
LIBRARY 0FC0N6RESS. 

F 2> V o, , „ 

Chiip. Copyright No.. 

ShelU_M-Sa 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




FROM PHOTO. 

MSHVILLE, TENN., 

JUNE, 1897. 



MARTIN V. MOORE. 



^ 3tr a: THE RHYME OF THE 
SOUTHERN RIVERS. ^ ^ ^ 

WITH NOTES HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL, 
GEOGRAPHICAL, ETYMOLOGICAL, ETC. 
a; a; for the use of teachers, schools, 

AND GENERAL READERS. a: A: A) a: 



BY MARTIN V. MOORE, 

Author of ' ' Recollections of a Grey Jacket; " " Glimpses of Many Lands , 
' ' Plantation Philosophy, or Idle Hours in a Darkey Cabin ; ' ' 
" 77?^ Christianity of the First Napoleon;'' etc. 




PUBLISHING HOUSE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, 
Barbee & Smith, Agents, a Nashville, Tenn. 



(o^-b'^ 



10 \J 



T&io 



2124 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S97, 

By Martin V. Moore, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






THIS BOOK IS AFFECTION A TBLY DEDICA TED 

by the author 

TO THE GENIUS AND LOVE OF 

HIS DEVOTED WIFE, 

who, as 

"BETSY HAMILTON," 

has entered the Temple of Fame through the 

Hearts of Millions 
made happy by her Inimitable Literary Art. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

The Rhyme of the Southern Rivers, without 
Note or Introductory, was originally published in Ha?-- 
per's Magazine in February, 1883. As printed there, 
the Verses were imperfect and defective in some fea- 
tures considered essential. The aim of the author was 
to present in the Rhyme the correct name of every 
stream locally known as a " river " in the Southern 
states named. It was the purpose to give also, by 
means of the measure in the verse, the correct pronun- 
ciations of the respective appellations. The general 
directions and the chief characteristics of some of the 
waters were also introduced in the Verse. 

Since the date of the original publication, in exten- 
sive personal travels all over the South, I have learned 
the further fact that there were also omissions of im- 
portant character in the matter appearing in the maga- 
zine. The present writing embraces — with possibly a 
few minor exceptions — the names of every watercourse 
in the respective Southern states locally called " river." 
It includes also about fifty names which do not appear 
on the ordinary maps of the country. The pronuncia- 
tions indicated in the revised forms agree substantially 
with the local expressions of the words. 

The facts given in the Notes have been obtained 
after many years of careful research and inquiry. Dur- 
ing the period covered by the labor on the work, I have 
not only visited in person every section of the Amer- 



6 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

ican Union, going from ocean to ocean, and from 
gulf to lakes, gathering material bearing upon the 
native and prehistoric nomenclature of the continent, 
gaining in the mean time all the information now pos- 
sible from the aborigines, the " red men " of the West, 
and elsewhere ; but I have consulted every recognized 
authority to be found in the public libraries of Wash- 
ington and other great cities. 

The Notes are intended to throw some light upon 
the primitive tongue of the continent, and especially 
as it relates to the prehistoric names of the rivers of 
America. Thorough investigation of the subject has 
revealed the fact that the great majority of the original 
names of our waters now regarded as " Indian " ap- 
pellations were not the coinage of the rude savages 
found here in the discoveries of the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries. The words appear to be survivals 
from a remote period. They appear also to belong 
distinctly to the tongue of the primitive peoples who 
first colonized the continent in the prehistoric civiliza- 
tion known to have once existed here, just as the riv- 
er names of the Old World are the coinage mainly of 
the earliest colonists in the respective regions. The 
river nomenclature of the aborigines of America holds 
but little in common with the crude dialects of the mod- 
ern natives. While the tongue of the historic In- 
dian shows many hundreds of dialects without a well- 
defined maternity or unity, the river nomenclature of 
the primitive colonists — from one end of the continent 
to the other — quite distinctly reveals a common ances- 
try. And what is still more noteworthy is the further 
fact that this ancestry appears to have been coeval with 
various tongues of antiquity in the Old World. In- 



INTRODUCTORY. 7 

numerable striking likenesses exist in the prehistoric 
river names of America and those of prehistoric Eu- 
rope and Asia. There is, indeed, a very long list of 
words that are recognized as native " Indian," of 
American birth, but w^hich have accurate prototypes, 
and in identical connections, in the ancient languages of 
the Old World. Scores of the prehistoric river names 
of both Europe and Asia are reproduced in the prehis- 
toric " Indian " appellations of America with such ex- 
actness and startling similitude every way as to forbid 
the acceptance of any theory which places the results 
in the domain of accidency. Some of the facts will be 
briefly referred to in the Notes of this work. The 
subject, however, is too profound and vast for full 
treatment in so unpretentious a volume as this is de- 
signed to be. " The gentle reader " who prefers to read 
only the Rhyme can quite easily skip the references 
to these Notes, while those who have no use for the 
mere verses may find much to interest and instruct in 
the prose of the appendages. 

While I have endeavored to make the Verse attract- 
ive and entertaining, the obvious difiiculties surround- 
ing the subject should afford some shield in the matter 
of criticism. The work should not be judged by the 
usual canons of the art poetic. As the Notes are 
designed to represent historic truth in one special 
light, these — far above the Verse— have consumed my 
purpose and time most liberally in the writing. But it 
is through both Verse and Notes that I hope interest- 
ing and valuable results are to come to the reader. 

The work is not offered to the public in any spirit of 
sectionalism; it is not the outgrowth of any mere sec- 
tional zeal or pride. Primarily, the idea of the book 



8 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

was of accidental parentage. In geographical studies, 
and in crossing numerous waters of the continent, 
years ago, I was impressed not only by the musical syl- 
labication of the old " Indian " names ; but there were 
constantly recurring terms or features in the native 
words which, in their common purposes, naturally sug- 
gested the common origin. This led to an investiga- 
tion of the history of the words — an investigation 
which, as I have just observed, I have pursued with 
every possible advantage that could be obtained. 
While the work is purely original in its conception, as 
well as unique in its relation to American lore, I have 
not been alone in my theories in connection with the 
subject. One hundred years ago, nearly, that profound 
scholar and student Thomas Jefferson, in his book 
" Notes on Virginia," said : "A study of the native 
appellations of the aborigines of America will afford 
the best methods of arriving at the origin of that por- 
tion of the human race." 

Mr. Jefferson's conclusions give the true key-note in 
the solution of one of the difficult problems connected 
with prehistoric America. The efforts of this volume 
can give but a glimpse of the subject. When we look 
for the " native appellations of the aborigines," we 
find them mainly, if not solely, in the ancient names of 
the waters of the continent. This statement is made in 
the conviction that analogous laws apply to the history 
of the human tongue in every part of the world alike. 
Most assuredly the very oldest evidences of the art and 
science of word-coinage come to us in river names. 
The first illustrations of this truth are seen in the 
names of the garden of Eden. These words still sur- 
vive, while all other testimonials of the Adamic tongue 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

have disappeared forever save as they were absorbed 
in the Biblical nomenclature and in the " confused " 
language of the post-Babel dispersion. The history of 
River Names shows that titles once properly applied to 
a water rarely ever perish. The river, or the water, 
has in all ages of the world been the boundary-line be- 
tween nation and nation, and between man and man. 
The title at once became among the nations of antiquity 
a common heritage, a feature of the landmark as it 
were, which was to be inviolate — never to be removed. 
Hence the survival of the old names, until modern 
times, when in the vandalisms of civilized nations, 
many of the old words have been supplanted in order 
to give place to the " honorary " title. Many of the 
ancient appellations of America have been thus sup- 
planted ; but among those that remain there are hun- 
dreds which evidently represent the tongue of the first 
colonists w ho coined and applied the words to the vari- 
ous vs^aters of the continent. 

A very large and valuable collection of the old and 
native names of America comes originally from the 
Southern states. This fact is due to several causes. In 
the first place, the rivers here are very numerous — more 
so than in any other portion of the continent. I think 
I may safely say that three of the Southern states herein 
referred to contain more streams having the prehistoric 
name still known than any other similar area in the 
known world. Then, again, there are evidences of more 
thorough or perfect preservation of the aboriginal title 
than is seen elsewhere. This section of country appears 
to have been more thoroughly explored by thoughtful, 
unimaginative persons, whose journals of travel show 
clearly the native words, than were other portions. Nor 



10 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

were the ancient titles here subjected to that system of 
mutilation and suppression which has robbed our lan- 
guage of so many heritages of the aboriginal tongue of 
the new world. A few of the old native words come to 
us in the habiliments of poetic fancies. Many doubtless 
are lost forever. But the great majority of the primi- 
tive names of the waters of the South still survive in 
garbs which indicate substantially their once pure and 
native expressions. Many of the words now have 
forms that are known to be simply conjectural, and 
forms given without regard to any laws of uniformity 
in writing syllabic sounds. 

In view of all these facts, this work is committed to 
the public not only as a study in geography and hy- 
drography, but also as a contribution to philological 
science as this relates to the history of the aboriginal 
civilized man of America. Martin V. Moore. 

Auburn, Ala. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 

Title-Page / 

Dedication 3 

Introductory 5 

Where and How — Proem 13 

The Rivers of Virginia 15 

Notes on, Page 17. 

The Rivers of West Virginia 23 

Notes on, Page 24. 

The Rivers of North Carolina 26 

Notes on, Page 29. 

The Rivers of South Carolina 39 

Notes on. Page 41. 

The Rivers of Georgia 47 

Notes on, page 49. 

The Rivers of Florida 53 

Notes on. Page 57. 

The Rivers of Alabama 61 

Notes on. Page 63. 

The Rivers of Mississippi 67 

Notes on. Page 69. 

The Rivers of Louisiana 72 

Notes on. Page 74. 

The Rivers of Texas 78 

Notes on. Page Si. 

The Rivers of Tennessee 84 

Notes on. Page S7. 

The River Name : Its Origin and History 96 



WHERE AND HOW. 

Where are all the rhythmic rivers of our sunny 

Southern clime, 
Rivers named in Indian legend or in tongue of later 

time ; — 
Rivers quaint, or rivers mighty, rivers grand, or rivers 

w^ee ; — 
From the trickling o'er the pebbles, to the sound or 
gulf or sea? 

How do all their w^aters flow. 
From their fountains gushing, through the mountains 
rushing 

Past the mosses and the ferns ; 
Then, with tireless toil and turns. 
Dashing deftly, splashing swiftly ; 
Over cascades curling, in the pastures purling ; — 
Round through rugged rocky caverns whirling ; 
Over ledges lightly leaping, through the valleys softly 
sweeping 

Gracefully and slow ; — 
By the busy cities creeping, in the murky marshes 
sleeping 

Peacefully, dreamily and low ; — 
How through forest and the bayou wending. 
With the Ocean and its myriads blending ; — 
From the mosses and the ferns. 
How with ceaseless, tireless toil and turns 
Then do all these rivers flow 
To their sea-home 
With the sea- foam? 
Where are heard their noisy numbers? 
Where are kept their restless slumbers? — 

=— Listen how these rivers go. 



Note. — The names of rivers are printed in Capitals. The 
figures given elsewhere refer to corresponding numbers in the 
Notes accompanying. Correct pronunciations are indicated by 
the measure of the verse. 



THE RIVERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Old Virginia north and eastward has Potomac bhie 

and w^ide ; 
Northw^ard lovely Shenandoah through the Valley 

pours her tide. 
Southward sweep the dark Black Water, deep 

Meherrin, Nottoway. 
Eastward ripples Rappahannock, spreading into 

placid bay, 
With a Bach and York historic, and the slow Pian- 

katank. 
Here are Hazel, and Pamunkey with its dank and 

slippery bank. 
Quaint Occoquan and Opequan, and Machodac, 

Yeocomico, 
Robertson and Nassowaddock, Rock Fish and 

the Buffalo. 
Here New, Holston, Clinch, and Powell wind in 

meadows of the west ; 
Mingling in their merry music comes the welcomed 

mountain Guest. 
Here Elizabeth comes kissing Nansamond and 

sisters Anna, 
Rapidan and Mattipony, and the rollicking Riv- 

ANNA. 



16 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

Pedler's here with Slate and Hardware ; and, 
still playing thus on names, 

Let's go down the Jackson, finding green Cow Pas- 
ture in the James ; 

Chickahominy there meeting Appomattox with 
their fames. 

Finding North and South united ; here with sighing 
Tye they blend. 

PiNEY, WiLEis from its willows, and Calf Pasture 
all here wend. 

Here in Roanoke gather Stanton, Dan, and moun- 
tainbright Black Water, 

Banister and Smith and Mayo and Hycootee, 
Pig and Otter. — 

Noble rivers ! noble country ! noble peoples ! No- 
bler ones 

Ne'er hath known the darkening shadows nor the light 
of circling suns ! 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF VIRGINIA. 



Potomac I 

Shenandoah 2 

Rappahannock 3 

Bach 4 

Piankatank 5 

Occoquan 6 

Robertson 3 

Holston 151 

Clinch 167 



See Note 

Anna 7 

Rapidan 3, 12 

Mattipony S 

James 9 

Tye 10 

Roanoke 11 

Dan 12 

Hycootee 13 



1. Potomac. This word is variously written in old chroni- 
cles. It is found as Patowmek, Patomeka, Potomaque, and 
otherwise similarly. Many of the native Indian names now 
written with the final in "ac," "oc," " ock," and " uck " had 
originally an ending in a vowel sound similar to that heard in 
the pronunciation of " ee " or "A." As the final vowel sound 
was supposed by our forefathers to be merely the superfluous 
guttural of the savage tongue, it was in most instances sup- 
pressed or eliminated in the English writings of the words. 
The word Potomac shows striking analogy to the Greek term 
for river written fotamos. This shows origin in the Sanskrit 
word for water, " Pa," and the Hebrew term for deep, "Te-ma," 
abbreviated from Te-homa. There are a number of the Indian 
names having prototypes in the Greek. See notes 45 and 103. 

2. Shenandoah. This is really the Shannon - Doah, or 
Shannon - Toah, the final term " Toah " a well-known Indian 
word for river. The word has three forms in different dialects : 
It is found as " Taquah," as " Toah," and more briefly as " Tau." * 
The writing as "Ta-ho" is precisely the same original word. 
It shows origin in the germ-words " Te " and " owa," or "au," 
water, its literal significance that of deep water.| All the differ- 
ent forms are found in the names of deep waters in various parts 
of the world. As Ta-ho, it is the native name of a deep lake in 
California. In Spain there is a deep river having the prehistoric 

* See Note 20 for " Tau," f See paragraph 4, page 99, for " Te." 

2 



18 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

title Ta-ho, the word appearing in the modern Spanish idiom 
as Tagus. In China the writing in English letters is Tai. The 
oldest form of the word is in the Hebrew in the writing Toah, 
in the name of a water, Neph-Toah. A term for water simply 
is found in many languages in the English writings " Owa," 
'* Oah," " Owee," "Au-wa," and "A-haw." The old Teutonic 
form of the word is "A-wa," or in the Roman idiom "A-qua." 
This, in a composite with the root-word for the deep " Te," gives 
the form of the term as " Taqua " seen in the native names of 
many of the deep waters of America. Other forms of this 
word will be referred to in Note 6i. The term " Shannon " in 
the Virginia name appears to be of more modern origin. It 
corresponds to the old Irish word Shannon, the name of a river 
in Ireland. Another old German word is reproduced in the 
name Bach. Note 4. 

3. Rappahannock. The term "Hannock" is found in an- 
other native name of Virginia, Tappa-hannock. Tappahannock 
is supposed to have been the old Indian appellation of the 
river now known as the Robertson. " Hannock," as a native 
term for river, was found in the dialects of both Virginia and 
California. The term " Rappa," seen also in the name Rappa- 
dan, or Rapi-dan, is supposed to be identical with the word 
seen as ripa in the Latin, the equivalent of riva. The term 
" Tappa" in the name Tappahannock, is referred to more fully 
in Note 116. 

4. Bach. This is given as a native Indian appellation. It 
is curious that both Bach and Beck, seen in the aboriginal 
names of America, are also ancient Teutonic words for stream, 
the synonyms of brouk, or English brook. The Indian words 
are frequently seen in the writings Bog, Bogue, Boga, or 
Pogue, and Boca, these given by our authorities as native terms 
for stream or pond of water. See Notes 40 and 102. 

5. PiANKATANK. Old writings give this name as Pyanke- 
tanke, with the final vowel sounded. The suffix "Tanka " or 
"Tanga" is a term found in the prehistoric names of waters in 
many parts of the world. An ancient Oriental form of the 
word as " Tong-ee " (written from the Turkish in English letters 
as Tengheez) is a term for lake. Mr. Stanley says that Tanga- 
ni-ka in the Central African dialects denotes great lake. We 
find the term in the North Carolina name Pasquo-tank, and in 



THE RIVERS OF VIRGINIA. 19 

the Louisiana name Tang-apahaw. A brief form of the term 
is in our English word Tank, which denotes a deep enclosure 
of water. The remote origin of the term lies in a composite 
of the germ-word "Te," the deep, and the Oriental term for 
fountain, "Ain," in the strong nasal (French and Oriental) sound 
as "Ang" or *' Ong," a sound heard also in the guttural form 
of the w ord as Kanga and Ganga and Congo. See Note 47. 

6. OccoQUAN. The aboriginal river nomenclature of 
America contains a term that has been variously rendered in 
our modern writings in such conjectural expressions as " Occo," 
"Aqua," "Auga," "Oga," "Ogee," " Uga," " Ouga," " Uckee," 
and otherwise similarly. The term is not confined to any par- 
ticular section of the continent, nor to particular dialects of the 
natives. It has been found in widely separated regions, and in 
old dialects that had no known connections. In the Sioux, the 
term is given by authorities in the writing as "Au-gee," a word 
for river. As " Uckee," it is a Chickasaw term for water. In 
the sibilant form, as " Su-cah " and " Shoo-kah," it is found as a 
term for water and river in the dialects of both Virginia and 
California. See ako Note 43. In the ancient Oneida tongue 
of New York, the word for w^ater was written in English 
Oghua-canno. This expression may be regarded as precisely 
the same word which is seen in the writing of the Virginia 
name Occoquan, with its final vowel sound suppressed. An- 
other native name in which the initial term " Occo " appears, 
and where its origin can be more clearly traced, is in the Geor- 
gia and Carolina appellation Occonee, in Note 25. The term 
appears as a parallel with similar words denoting water or 
river, and given in the English transcripts as " Ogha," from the 
Sanskrit; as "Accho," from the Hebrew; " Hugra," from the 
Greek; and as "Aqua," in the Latin, and "Acha," in the Celtic. 
These words, all appearing to have a common origin, are found 
in different forms reproduced in the native Indian names of 
America. 

7. Anna. This name does not owe its origin to that of the 
English Queen Anna, as has been supposed by many persons. 
It is a native Indian expression. It appears to be identical with 
the Hebrew and Persian term "Au-na," to which I have referred 
in the " River Name," paragraph 13. It is in various corruptions 
in all parts of the American continent. It is found most fre- 



20 ■ SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

quentlj on the Atlantic coast, in such names as Riv-anna, Fluv- 
anna, Susqueh-anna, Lacka-wauna. The form as '* Wau-nee," 
seen in the Pennsylvania name given, and the Florida appellation 
Suwannee, is in the South American name Cari-wauna. South 
America has the name also in the corruption Una, there being 
four rivers there with this name; one also named Una-Ri. In 
Turkey the writing is both Una and in the aspirate as Hanna. 
The aspirate form occurs also in the Spanish names Hain and 
Haina. The Russian symbols expressing the word in that lan- 
guage are rendered Yanna, lanna, or Jana, and also Ona or 
Una, rivers of Russia. Mr. Stanley gives the form of the 
word Yeon as the name of a Central African river. The old- 
est form of the term comes to us in the Hebrew of two of the 
names of the rivers of Eden, Pash-au-na (Pison of the Angli- 
cism in the Scriptures), and Gah-auna, or Gihon. The latter is 
seen in the French idiom as Guiana. Our Indian name Chey. 
enne appears to be identically the same word, this also in the 
French idiom. 

8. Mattipony. This word gives the combined appellations 
of four small streams known respectively as the Mat, the Tye, 
the Po, and the Ny. 

9. James. This title was in honor of the English King 
James. Capt. John Smith, the early English explorer of Vir- 
ginia, gives the nat'.ve name of the river as Powhat-anna, the 
final term "Anna" referred to above in Note 7. The follow- 
ing are other native Indian names of Virginia rivers referred 
to in the journals of Capt. Smith and others; the identity 
of the respective streams now not positively known: Occam, 
Occobannock (bannock?), Namapona, Fluvanna. 

10. Sighing Tye. A remarkable physical fact is here con- 
nected with a historical occurrence. The North and South 
Rivers unite near Appomattox. In the combined currents the 
waters of the sighing Tye mingle. A " tie," one freighted with 
an immeasurable sadness, binds the two sections of our common 
country, North and South, and taking in an event at Appo- 
mattox, in 1865. Chickahominy and Appomattox are united in 
fame since then. Capt. John Smith writes the latter name 
Apamatuck. The term "Appa " or "Ap-aa " is known to have 
been used as a word for water or river in the native dialects of 
the continent. It remains yet in the tongue of the aborigines of 



THE RP/ERS OF VIRGINIA. 21 

the Salt Lake basin as a term for water. Many of the old di- 
alects had it in the corruptions " Ippe," " Epe," " Sepe," '* Sippe," 
as well as in the modern writings in " Upa," " Oupa," and 
*'Oppa." In the latter form it is seen in the Virginia name 
Oppe-quan, and the Louisiana name Opalousa (Opelousas of 
the French writing). Another reference to this ancient San- 
skrit term Ap-aa, water, is seen in the " River Name," para- 
graph 12, and also Note 78. The term " Chicka," seen in the 
name of the Chickahominy , is referred to more fully in Note 164. 
The final in this name, " Hominy," is a native Indian word. It 
is found also as the appellation of a stream in North Carolina a 
tributary of the French Broad, the writing " Hominy." The 
word appears to be simply an aspirate form of the Hebrew name 
of one of the Syrian rivers, Aa-ma-na, or Ha-ma-na, the Abana 
of the Arabic. As Amana, the word is seen also in the name 
of a river in South America. 

11. Roanoke. This is not the true form of the native name. 
This modern expression has been evolved from the apparently 
doubtful writings of different early explorers who gave the 
word as Rowinoka, Roranoke, Owanoga, Orinoka, Oranoque, 
and otherwise similarly, in efforts to record the savage tongue. 
The word as Oronoko still survives in the name of the famous 
tobaccoes grown along the stream. The true prehistoric title 
was doubtless Orien-Ogha, or Orien-Aqua. The word appears 
to have been identical in origin with one seen as the native 
name of a river in South America, the word now Avritten Ori- 
noco. Identical phj'sical facts are seen in connection with the 
two rivers: they both flow eastwardly for hundred of miles. 
The term " Orien " is an ancient word found in the languages 
of the Old World, and referring to the East, or to the direction 
of the sunrise. When the current of the Roanoke River changed 
its course, as it does in entering North Carolina, the natives no 
longer called it by the name " Orin-oka," or " Oronoko," but it 
was known as Mora-Tocka or the Mora-Taqua, the deep wa- 
ters of the stream indicated by the term " Taqua," this referred 
to more fully in Note 61. 

12. Dan is a true Indian name. The word is seen in another 
Virginia appellation, the writing Rapi-Dan. Other forms of 
the original word are seen in such native names as Catoc-tan, 
Yuca-tan. The history of the word has been referred to in 



22 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

paragraph 14, the "River Name." Dan is one of the oldest 
river names known, it being conspicuous in Biblical annals, and 
also in the river nomenclature of ancient Europe, where it is seen 
as " Dan," " Don," " Doon," " Dun," and otherwise. The word is 
in the composite Dan-ube, this appellation appearing in the dif- 
ferent European idioms as Don-au, Duna, Tanai, etc., the final 
syllables showing the identity of the terms for water in " Uba," 
"Au," and "Ai." The Latin form of the European name as 
Dan-uwa, or Danuvius, shows the German term for water writ- 
ten atva or aha. 

13. HicooTEE. The term " Cootee " is seen in a number of 
the river names of America. It is doubtless but a guttural form 
of the word for water or river as " Uda," referred to in Note 45. 
The term " Hi" is a superfluous aspirate expression, seen as the 
initial in such Indian names as Hiawassie, Hiawathie. It is 
seen also as a superfluous feature in the Edenic river name 
Hi-Dekel. 



THE RIVERS OF WEST VIRGINIA. 

Daughter of the Old Dominion ! From her hills and 
mountain chains, 

Swiftly gulfward pour her waters, through her pas- 
tures, vales, and plains. 

Northward rush Monongahela, green Buchanan, 
and the Cheat ; 

In Ohio two Kanaw^has, Guyandotte, and Sandy 
meet 

PiNEY, Elk, East, Bi.uestone, Tug, and Green- 
brier, Hughes, Birch, and Holly, 

Cacapan, Yeo-ogha-na, Coal, Pocataligo, and 
Gauley. — 

Westward roaring, northward pouring, sparkling all 
in meadows gay ; 

Wandering, like an exile ever, here they scamper, 
plash, and play ; 

Ne'er returnino- for her orreetins" — from the mother 
run away. 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF WEST VIRGINIA 



See Note 

Monongahela 14 

Kanawha 15 

Guyandotte 36 

Yeo-ogha-na 16 



See Xot3 

Pocataligo 17 

Gauley 18 

"Run away" 19 

Ohio A 



14. Monongahela. Tradition sajs this native name means 
•'river v^^ith falling-in banks." Central Africa has a river 
named Monongha. There are many identities in the native 
names of America and Africa. South Carolina has a Wando; 
Africa has a Lo- Wando — the prefix "Lo" a term for river 
in the African dialects. Other likenesses will be referred to in 
future notes. The term "hala" in the West Virginia name is 
duplicated in the suffix of the North Carolina name, Nanta- 
hala. 

15. Kanawha, written also Kenawha. The word is said to 
denote the "river of the great woods or great canes." The 
term " Ken," or " Kan," or " Can," and Canna" is found in the 
prehistoric names of waters in all parts of the world. The old- 
est form of the word is in the Hebrew, where, as " Canae " or 
"Kenna" of the English writing, it is given as the ancient 
name of a river whose modern appellation signifies "the 
reedv," and hence our word "cane." The term is found in the 
native names of many American waters whose banks or shores 
have been noted for their extensive cane-brakes. In nearly 
every instance each one of the old appellations contains a well- 
known term for water or river. We have seen in Note 2 that 
"Aw-ha" is an ancient term for water. 

16. Yeo-ogha-na. This word is usually written in the gro- 
tesque orthography, Yough-oigh-e-ney. The suffix in the same 
is simply Occo-na. See Note 25. The term "Yeo" or "Ya" is 
the ancient word referred to in the " River Name, paragraph 2. 

17. PocATALiGO. See Note 53. 

18. Gauley. This native American name is found also in 
many parts of the world. It is the same expression seen as the 
final in such names as Eaugallie, Ocala, Oghallah, etc. The 



THE RIVERS OE WEST VIRGINIA. 25 

names Gaul, Galilee, and Wales all have the same remote ori- 
gin, doubtless, as this American word. The most remote form 
of the original expression is seen in the Hebrew of the Edenic 
river name, De-Kau li, the Biblical Hiddekel, the Oriental Te- 
gari or Tigris. 

19. The rivers of West Virginia all run in an opposite direc- 
tion from those of the mother commonwealth. 

36. See forward, Note 36, for the term " Wje" or *' Guy," as 
it appears here in Gujandotte. 

A. The word Ohio appears to be simply a contraction or 
a corruption of a native name found in the journals of Colum- 
bus as Bohia — the name now written Bahia. The term "Hia" 
is seen in Hiawassie. 



THE RIVERS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Carolina ! land of waters ! Here the strangest rivers 

are : 
Arrarat and Alligator, and the famous stream of 

Tar! 
Even Folly here is fleeing as a river to the sea ; 
Here are rivers Flat and Little as the waters well 

can be. 
Broad and Rocky here are rivers ; here are rivers 

old but New, 
Yellow Black and silver Green, White Oak, Bay, 

and Reddie's too. 
Westward whirling wild Watauga, leaping Elk, and 

crooked Toe, 
French Broad (this the Taqua-Osta), and the 

wingless Pigeon's flow ; 
Tennessee and swift Hiawassie, gulfward through 

the mountains go. — 
From Virginia come Meherrin and the noiseless 

NOTTOW^AY ; 

Out from Georgia little Notley dances northward 

brisk and gay. 
Where the Cherokees still linger is the nimble Nan- 

TAHALA. 



THE RIVERS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 27 

In the land of Junaluskee is the Vallee gurghng 

gaily. 
In the dismal swamp-land is the viny-festooned 

SCUPPERNONG ; 

In the cloud-home and the sky-land Swannanoah 

skips along. 
In the Smokies Catalouchie lisps and warbles out 

in trills ; 
And the constant song of Seneka the highland hol- 
low fills. 
In the pine-lands over marl-beds, ruby, wine-like 

Cashie creeps ; 
In the fern-lands, 'neath the balsams, Tuckeseegee 

grandly leaps. 
Here Occonee-Luftee laughs, and wee Cheeow^a 

frets and clashes ; 
'Mid her towering barriers Linville (Esseeola) 

spurts and splashes ; 
And the John in foaming eddies 'neath the rhododen- 
drons dashes. 
In the gray and yellow hill-lands, where tobaccoes 

golden grow. 
Tumbling Dan, and Mayo, Fisher, Mitchell, and 

the End go. 
Here is Yadkin (once Sapona), winding mid a 

thousand hills ; 
Here's Catawba, pearly pebbled, from a thousand 

mountain rills. 
Here's Uwharrie with its hurry ; here the lazy 

Waccamaw ; 



28 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

Here are M11.LS, and humming spindles on the busy 
Deep and Haw. 

Here in field and forest are the Lumber and Pee-Dee ; 

And, borne upon her breast, Cohera, Colly, and the 
Mingo wee. 

Cape Fear's storied waters — and these only — go to 
open sea. 

Here Contentnea and Trent, pouring into Neuse, 
find Okracoke ; 

Where the herring comes in spring time, are Chow- 
an and broad Roanoke ; 

North and Newport, Yeopim, Pungo, Pasquo- 
tank, and PiMLico, 

And Perquimans, Pantiego, and Shallotte — 
How they come and go ! 

Dripping, gurgling, rushing, tumbling, creeping — so 
they be — 

Carolina's matchless rivers, from their fountains to the 
sea. 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



See Xote 

Tar 20 

Folly 21 

Watauga 23 

Elk 40 

Toe 22 

Taqua-osta 23 

Pigeon 157 

Tennessee 152 

Hiawassie 153 

Junaluskee 24 

Swanannoah 3S 

Seneka 49 

Cashie 127 

Occonee-Luftee 25 

Cheeowa 26 

Esseeola 27 

Dan 12 



See Xote 

Yadkin 28 

Catawba 29 

Uwliarrie 30 

Waccamaw 31 

Haw 32 

Pee-Dee ^^ 

Colly 34 

Cape Fear 35 

Neuse 36 

Okracoke 37 

Chowan 3S 

Roanoke 4 

Yeopim 39 

Pungo 40 

Pasquotank 41 

Pimlico 42 

Pantiego 49 



A number of the river names of North Carolina are referred to in the Notes 
pertaining to other states; hence the irregularity in the citations. 

20. Tar. The origin of this name has given rise to much 
controversy. A few writers have supposed that it was but a 
contraction of the native word written Torqueo, or Torpeo^ found 
in the region through which this river flows. It is known, 
however, that the true original name was not "Tar," but Tau. 
There was in the dialects of the old aborigines a term for wa- 
ter or river, and used in the appellative sense, but variously 
written in the conjectural orthographies of our early English 
and French colonists. Authorities give the form "Tau" as the 
word in the Uchee dialect, while for the old Apache dialect 
the writing is "Toah." A fuller form of the word is found in 
the writings " Taqua " and " Toccoa," or " Toquoy," as it is 
sometimes written. This is regarded as the Cherokee expres- 
sion of the word, although it is found in localities outside of the 
range of that nation or tribe. The oldest known form of the 
word is, as we have already seen in Note 2, in the Hebrew, 
where it occurs in the name of a water noted in Jewish history, 
Neph-Toah. The word as " Tau " is the old Anglo-Saxon name 



30 SOUTHERN RfCERS. 

of a river in England. The term is found in all its forms in the 
prehistoric names of waters in America — both as initial and as 
a final — as in Choc-taw, Eu-taw, Pisca-tauqua, etc. See Note 
6i, As initial it is in the Georgia name Tau-aliga. Note 63. 

21. Folly, usually known as " Lockwood's Folly." " Fau- 
lt," or '" Fau-la," is a native Indian name, seen in the appella- 
tion Eu-fau-la. The name as Fau-li is also in South Carolina, a 
river appellation there. See Note 54. 

22. Toe. This is an abbreviation of the true name Esta- 
ToAH, the final term "Toah" referred to above in Notes 20 and 
2. The term " Esta" is referred to in Note 154. Avery re- 
markable fact in connection with the name Esta-toah is that it, 
or a word closely resembling it, is found in a book of travels in 
America, written and published in Venice before the discovery 
by Columbus. The work purports to be an account of the 
adventures of two Venetian sailors known as the Zeni Brothers. 
It not only describes the high mountain plateau of Western 
North Carolina near the source of the river named, but the 
name of the country is given as " Estote." Remains of stone 
houses described in the book are said to have been discovered 
also in Arizona. Corruptions of the name Zeno survive in the 
name Arizona, and in the title of an Indian tribe known as the 
" Zunis " found in that territory. While the word " Zuni " 
appears to be an exotic in American nomenclature, the term 
" Zona," or '^ Sona," is found elsewhere on the continent in the 
aboriginal appellations, and notably in the word Ama-sona, the 
native name now written Amazon, of South America, with its 
Hebrew "Am-aa" seen in so many of the aboriginal names of 
this country. 

23. Taqua-Osta. The true word was doubtless Taqua-Esta, 
the final term found in a number of old Indian names not only 
as "Esta," but also in the known corruptions as "Osta" and 
" Ousta," as in the name written both Esti-nauli and Ousta- 
naula. For further reference to the term " Esta," see Note 154; 
and for " Taqua," see 2 and 61, Taqua-Osta is given as the 
old Indian name of the French Broad, the word said to signify 
" the racing river," a highly characteristic designation. The 
river was called French Broad at a time when it ran westwardly 
into what was known as the " French Possessions" of the 
country, and to distinguish it from the neighboring " Broad," 



THH RIVERS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 31 

which ran southwardly into the British territory of South Caro- 
lina. The French Broad has a tributary with the Indian name 
Hominy, referred to in Note lo, in connection with the name 
Chicka-hominy, See Note 150. 

24. A remnant of the old Cherokee Indians still remains in 
Western North Carolina. Junal-uskee was a noted chieftain 
of the tribe. The term " Uskee," seen also in the name Sand- 
usky, appears to be simply a corruption of the ancestral word 
whence come " uckee," " ouchee," ''ousa," and a long list of 
similar writings having the significance of water or river, and 
found in the native dialects of America, Europe, and China. 

25. OccoNEE-LuFTEE. In the native dialects of America 
there was a term for river which appears in the modern con- 
jectural writings as " Occona," "Aquana," " Equona," " Ogh- 
ana," or similarly. The old Choctaw form of the word is given 
as " Okina " or " Oceana," the latter now the native name of a 
waterfall on the river called Occonee, in Georgia. In South 
America the writing appears as Ocono. The name is found 
also in the Old World nomenclature. The very oldest form in 
which the likeness to the word appears is in the Hebrew of the 
Edenic name wliich bears the Anglicized version " Gihon," the 
name of one of the rivers of Eden. The true full writing of 
the Hebrew symbols in their English equivalents, with vowels 
supplied, gives the Edenic word Aga-auna, or in pronunciation 
Ock-a-au-na. This Hebrew name is evidently the remote an- 
cestor of the Greek word Okeanos, the Latin equiva'ent Occ- 
atius, our English word Ocean, and very nearly the pure Indian 
name Oceana. It is well known that the majority of our so- 
called Indian names are frequently in the mere conjectural 
writings. Unfortunately they have passed into official geogra- 
phy and history without any utiiformity of phonetic expression. 
The words at times have been given the most grotesque guises, 
as though the tongue of "the savage" must needs be given a 
" savage " aspect. We see, for instance, the simple name " Ya- 
og-ha-na," showing the native term now under consideration, 
written on our maps and in histories as the Indian name 
of streams in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and expressed 
in the letters Youghoigheney! "Luftee,"in the North Caro- 
lina name, is a mere dialectic suffix, its significance unknown 
to the writer. The term " Occo-na," or "Aqua-na," isetymo- 



32 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

logically the exact equivalent of Arabic Aba-na and Hebrew 
Ama-na, a Biblical name written in symbols which have the 
significance of waters which flow perpetually. (Isaiah, chap- 
ter Iviii., verse ii.) 

26. Cheeowee. Thit is a name which has been variously 
written and variously pronounced. What appears to be the 
same native word is seen in the Engli>h writings Keowa, Keeo- 
wee, Kiowa, and Kiawah. The latter is pronounced in some 
parts of South Carolina as Kee-wee and Kee-a-wah. I have 
heard the native Indians of the Pacific Coast use the word as 
" Ku-owa," it signifying with them " Big Water," Ku-owa is 
the aboriginal name of the Pyramid Lake, in Nevada. Kiowa 
is a name found also in the Russian. 

27. EssEEOLA. This is given as the native name of the river 
now called Linville. The term "Ola" is doubtless the same 
as "Auli " or " Ou-li," the latter the Chinese form of the term, 
a word in the Mantchu dialect for river, and seen in many of 
the native names of American rivers. '* Essee " is the same as 
"Assa." See Note 152. 

28. Yadkin. "Yadkin" is not an aboriginal name, as has 
been supposed. It is merely a corruption of the old English 
appellation Atkin or Adkin. The stream was once known as 
"Adkin's River," the title coming from the name of one of 
the earliest European settlers on the river. "Yadkin" is a 
fanciful coinage. The aboriginal name of the river is said to 
have been Sapona or Sap-auna. See Note 7 for "Au-na." 
The term "Sap" or " Sepe " is seen in the i ative name of 
many American waters. "Sepe" a term for water or river, 
the equivalent of " Ippe." See Note 10. 

29. Catawba. This native name is written also by our au- 
thorities Kataba. The same word occurs also in the Persian 
geography. It contains the old Persian term for water writ- 
ten in English "Au-ba," or briefly "Aub." The term is found 
both in purity and corruption in the prehistoric names of many 
different countries. France has the river names written both 
Aube and Ubaye. In the English transcripts of the Russian, 
we find the name as Obi or Uba, both forms reproduced in the 
native names of the rivers of America. There is an Obi river 
in Tennessee, the old writing Obey.* In the native names 

*The name is now written also Obect See Note in Tennessee Rivers. 



THE RIVERS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 33 

of waters in South America the writing is both Uba and Ubi. 
The California writing is Yuba, this the name of two rivers 
there. The California writing reproduces the orthography 
given the term in its oldest forms in the Hebrew, where it ap- 
pears in the word for river written Yu-ba-li. It is also seen in 
the old Egyptian name of the Nile written Yu-ba-ri, this the 
exact equivalent of the Hebrew term. It is supposed to be also 
the remote original of the old Basque term for river written 
Ibari, or Iberia of the modern versions. The form of the old 
term as "Ab-aa," denoting water, is in the Arabic appellation 
Aba-na, heretofore referred to in Note lo. The word is found 
in all its Old World forms in the aboriginal names of waters 
in America. The Latin corruption "uba," seen in the name 
Dan-ube, is in numerous Indian names of rivers, — Cat-auba is 
the river of the catfish. This variety of the finny tribe 
abounds in the stream from its mouth to its sources. So nu- 
merous are the fish in sections of the river that there is a belt 
of country lying along its banks in North Cai'olina called the 
"Catfish Township." I once asked an old Catawba Indian the 
question, '-To which did the name Catawba first apply, to the 
tribe or to the river?" His answer was swift and convin- 
cing: ''Which xvas here first f' The old natives did not call 
themselves "Catawbas." The original title of the tribe, the 
one by which they designated their nation, was the Ushe- 
rees, the Way Openers, or the Pioneers. It has been the cus- 
tom of our government authorities to call the aborigines by the 
native name of their chief water. In this manner nearly ev- 
ery distinct Indian tribe of North America has been designated, 
and this in some instances independent of the native titles. 
The old Cherokee name of the Catawba River was Inc-taqua, 
the term for "river" in the final " Taqua," this form of the 
word seen frequently in the appellations now regarded as 
" Cherokee." 

30. UwHARRiE. This is simply the Ou-Warrie, or the river 
Warrie. The sufiix " Warrie " is a term for river in different 
languages. In the French and Spanish writings we see it as 
Guarre, Garry, and also as Gare, as in the old writing Le-gare 
for the river now known as Lo-aire (Loire), the term Li or Lo, 
the root- word referred t) in paragraph i,the " River Name," and 
found in different languages as a word for river. The modern 

3 



34 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

Turkish form of the word is written in English Ghore, pro- 
nounced either Jar or Jor. T'his is the name of the stream 
which, with the Dan, makes the river Jordan, this name sim- 
ply a composite of the titles of the two confluents of the river. 
The Hebrew writing of the Turkish name was Yeor or Yari. 
In the Russian the word is written either Jar, lar, or Yar; 
in English letters, a term for stream or chasm. The oldest 
form known for the word from which " Warrie " has been 
evolved is in the Hebrew term written in English either Yeor 
or Yaa-ri, showing the germ-words Yaa, water, and Ri, run- 
ning. Parallel forms are seen in the old Egyptian and Coptic 
in the English writings Aur, Airu, Eiro, and otherwise simi- 
larly. An ancient European form of the word, and known as 
a "Celtic" term for river, is Aar, or Aa ri. All those river 
names of Western Europe which are now seen in the wri- 
tings Ayr, Ayre, Aure, Ohre, and Or, are supposed to be due 
to the Celtic origin, in the term Aar, and this traceable to the 
Egyptian form of the word as Aur. An ancient Chaldee form 
of the word was Ur or Ure, this the Chaldee name of the Eu- 
phrates, the term used in the appellative sense. The word oc- 
curs also in the Hebrew as Ureah. The Chaldee form of the 
name is in the French appellation of a river, Eure. It is in a 
number of the aboriginal titles of waters in America. Alone, 
it is the name written Ouray, a river of Colorado, and as Ouri, 
the old name of the San Jacinto, of Texas. In composites, it is in 
the names Miss-ouri, Ura-guay, of South America, and in other 
native appellations. The old Celtic form of the term as "Aar " 
is seen in our names Aar-Kansas, Aar-oostook, Aar-apahoe, 
Arre-dondee, and others. The term as " Warrie " is in the 
native name of one of the Tennessee rivers having the modern 
title, Wari-ota, now the Cumberland. See Note 148. The syn- 
onymous features in the name Oo-warrie are referred to in 
paragraph 10, page loi. See also paragraph 8. 

31. Waccamaw. The term "Maw" in the Indian appears 
to have had the significance of "great water." See Note 93. 
The word as Mah, or Mo, was in the ancient Chinese a term 
for the sea; it is yet in the Hebrew, the generic word for wa- 
ter. The name Waccamaw refers primarily to the lake Wac- 
camaw, 

32. Haw, This is another abbreviation of the native name§ 



THE RIVERS QF NORTH CAROLINA. 35 

of North Carolina. The original word was Sax-apa-haw. 
This is supposed to have been the Indian name of the Cape 
Fear. It is a curious and interesting fact that the term " Sax" 
seen in this and other native names of America, and which is 
the Sanskrit root of the Latin term saxeum, rock, is found in the 
names of some of our rockiest rivers. There are three forms 
of the root-word, sea, ska, and sax. Our authorities give the 
former as a native Indian word denoting rockj, a synonym of 
the Latin saxeum. The Haw and upper Cape Fear are the rock- 
iest rivers in North Carolina. The Potap-sca is the rockiest in 
Maryland. The Penob-sca (Penobscot in the French idiom) 
is the rockiest in Maine. The Sax-achawan is the rockiest in 
British America. Two of the rockiest streams in Florida have 
in their native names the term "sea," the Pithlacha-sca-te and 
the Chassahowit-sca. The Thronade-sca of Georgia is so pro- 
verbially rough and rocky that it has been called in modern 
parlance the " Flint." In addition to the Sanskrit term "sax," 
seen in the North Carolina Indian name Sax-apa-haw, it con- 
tains also the Sanskrit term for water, "Apa," found also in 
many other native names of America, not only in purity, but 
in the corruptions " Ippa," •' Epe," " Sepe," etc. See Note lo. 
" Humming Spindles." Several of the largest cotton-mills of 
the state are on the Deep and Haw Rivers. Mills is a river 
name in the state. The word " Haw" in Indian appears to be 
a term for river, the exact equivalent of Hebrew Hai, Chinese 
Ho, and the Teutonic A-haa, these words denoting river. 

33. Pee-Dee. There has been some doubt as to whether or 
not this is a genuine nativr^ name. The most trustworthy evi- 
dences are in support of the declaration that it is a true aborig- 
inal title. Its two distinct terms are found in numerous other 
native names. "Dee" is in the near-by name Sand-dee (San- 
tee), the term " Sand " found also in Sand-usky (Note 24) and 
in Santaffee of Florida, besides in other native names. "Dee" 
is the root-word referred to in the " River Name," paragraph 4. 
In the old Anglo-Saxon tongue the term was used in the appel- 
lative sense as the name of deep waters, the Scottish corruption 
being "Tay" and " Tye." 

34. Colly. This name is supposed to be etjmologically the 
same as the word Gauley, referred to in Note 18. 

35. Cape Fear. In the gld colonial records this name is 



36 SOUTHERN Rll 'ERS. 

written " Cape Fair." The native appellation is given as Sax- 
apa-haw. (Note 32.) Of all the many rivers of North Carolina, 
this is said to be the only one going directly into the open sea, 
the others emptying into '' sovinds," or leaving the state through 
other territory. 

36. Neuse. " Neuse " is an abbreviation of the native name 
originally written Noos-Ooka. " Ooka " is a dialectic expres- 
sion of the true word Ogha, or Aqua, referred to in Note 6. 
The name Neuces, of Texas, showing the French idiom, is 
doubtless the same as the North Carolina word. 

37. OcRACOKE is the native name of a " sound " or inlet on 
the eastern coast- of North Carolina, whicli receives the rivers 
named. 

38. Chowan. The name was originally Cho-wanna, the fi- 
nal vowel eliminated in the modern writings. The word, 
and the names Shewannee, Suwanee, Svvannanoah, and Savan- 
nah are supposed to be all corruptions of one remote, origi- 
nal, sibilant form of an ancestry whose Hebraic type is in the 
name Ama-na, waters flowing perpetually. It has been conjec- 
tured that the native sounds as " Su-aa," heard in the initial of 
the names, have for their origin the remote root whence comes 
our words " sweet," " suave," etc. Traditions connected with 
the names Suwannee and Svvannanoah appear to confirm such a 
supposition. It is well known, however, that the old Oriental 
terms for water or river in the English writings (Tcha, Chu, 
Tsai, Su, etc.), are seen in the native names of the waters of 
the continent. The Turkish term Su is the name of one of 
our rivers, the Frencli form of the writing being Sioux. See 
Note 165. 

39. The term " Yeo," or '' Yaa," seen in the prehistoric 
names of so many of the American waters, is an ancient germ- 
word or term for water, and found well-nigh universally in 
prehistoric river names. Further reference is made to the word 
in the " River Name," paragraph 2. Our authorities tell us that 
in the ancient language of Mexico the word for water was in 
our symbol A, as it was in the old Swiss, with the sound of O, 
the same as the French word written Eau. The old Saxon 
form as Wye is found not only as the name of waters, but 
it is in numerous composites, such as Wye-oming, Wye-ota, 
Y-reka. The form of the word as " Ya " or " Yeo " is not con- 



TJIR RUrERS OP NORTH CAROLINA. 37 

fined to any special dialect or any particular section of Amer- 
ica. A form of the word as "Yu" is also found, not only in 
the Hebrew, but in America also, as in Yukon, Yucatan, Yuma. 
The latter, which is a correct Hebraism of the word given in 
the Mosaic annals as the appellation of the Deity for the " gath- 
ered waters " of the creation, its equivalent " Yoma " most fre- 
quently used, was the ancient Indian name of the Colorado 
River, of California. The ancient germ-word as " Ya " is seen 
in the names Yakima, of California (and which is precisely the 
same etymologically as Waccamaw), in Ya-hooli, Yali-busha, 
and in many others. 

40. PuNGO. This is another abbreviation of an original 
name. The full word, as given by early explorers of Eastern 
North Carolina, is written Matcha-pungo, or Metche-pungo. 
The initial is doubtless the same word we see in one of the old 
names of the Mississippi, Metche-Sepe, seen also in the name 
Michi-gan and its Mexican duplicate Michioagan. (See Note 
130.) The term "Pungo" is an Oriental word found in the 
nomenclature of Asia. Another Oriental word found in North 
Carolina names of waters is the Chinese tferm for lake written 
in English Bogue. Bogue is a noted sound in the eastern part 
of the state. Our authorities say that Bog, Pog, and Pang are 
words for lake or pond in the native Indian dialects. There 
are various orthographies for the words. In Alabama is a creek 
with the native name Esta-boga, the term " Esta " referred to 
in Note 154. In South America is a deep water, its native name 
Bog-Ota. The Indian words as Bog and Pog are strikingly like 
the old German terms for stream written Bach and Pach. 
There is a wide variety of expression given the Indian word 
Pog. It is seen as Poca, as in Pocataligo (Note 53), Poca-hontis, 
Loacha-poka, etc. As Poga or Pogue it was found as the name 
of a water in Western North Carolina, supposed to have applied 
originallv to the river now called the Elk. The stream is now 
called Elk from the fact that the last survivor of this noble an- 
imal in the South Atlantic states was killed on the head waters 
of the river early in the present century by the late Col. Will- 
iam Davenport, of Caldwell County, this state. 

41. Pasquo-Tank. The term " Tanga" has been referred to 
in Note 5. The term " Pasquo " is seen also in the name of a 
river in Mississippi. Note 118. 



38 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

42. PiMLico. The names Piinlico and Palmlico appear to 
signify waters of the palm or the pine. 

43. There is in North Carolina a creek known as the " Sug- 
ar?' The old native title was Sucah. Capt. John Smith, in 
his journals of travels in Virginia, gives the expression " Su- 
cah-auna " as a native term for water. The initial is doubtless 
the same word which Mr. Bancroft gives as Shoo-kah as one 
of the native terms of the Pacific Coast — a word for water. 
In Brazil, the same native expression occurs in the name of a 
river, the Suca-rio, or simply the Sucah River. In Georgia is 
a creek called the Sucah-noochee, sometimes written Sucker- 
nuchee. 



THE RIVERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Bv the rice-fields and the sand-hills run the rivers 
small and great, 

From the mountains to the ocean in the grand " Pal- 
metto State :" 

From Savannah on the westward, to the eastmost 
Waccamaw^ ; 

By Catawba, where the red man once untroubled 
kept his squaw^ : 

Bubbling, hurrying, foaming, splashing, gently, smooth- 
ly then they flow ; 

Once they find her sunny borders ne'er across them do 
they go. 

Pacolet, Saluda, Reedee, Tygar, Broad, Bush, 
Ennoree, 

CoNGAREE and Wateree, all in Santee, seek the sea. 

To Savannah, Chauga, Little, Seneka and 

TUGALO, 

Keeowee and Taxoway, and the rattling Rocky go. 
To the ocean Coosaw-Hatchie, lazy Lynch, and 

dark Chehaw^, 
Ashley, Cooper, these in Indian Etowan and Was- 

MASAW^ 

Eastward flowing is the Coosaw ; by the islands 
Edisto: 



40 SOUTHEFCK RIVERS. 

By the cypress Salkee-Hatchie and the PocA- 

TAI.IGO. 

By the countless fields of cotton, spread the small and 
great Pee-Dee ; 

Here, the sea waves kissing, Sampit, Broad, May, 
Wright's and Checkasee. 

Here are Faulee, Bull and Harbor, and the way- 
ward Wadmelaw, 

Morgan and the small Kiaw^ah, and the darkened 

OwENDAW\ 

Here are Black, once Winnee, sleepy Stono and a 

New, 
Combahee and sluggish Wando, and the narrow 

ASHEPOO. — 

From Savannah west and southward, from the east- 
most Waccamaw^ ; 

To Catawba, where the Indian still is living with his 
squaw ; 

From the rich hills to the barrens, busy rivers small 
and great. 

Run by factory and plantation in the grand " Palmetto 
State." 



NOTES ON THE RiVERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



Sec Xotu 

Waccamaw 31 

Catawba 29 

Pacolet 44 

Saluda 45 

Tygar 46 

Congaree 47 

Wateree 48 

Santee 50 

Seneka 49 

Keowee 26 

Coosaw-IIatchie 64 

Etowan Ci 



See Xoie 

Wasmasaw 51 

Salkee-Hatchie 52 

Pocataligo 53 

Pee-Dee 33 

Faulee 54 

Kiawah 51 

Winnee 55 

Combahee 5*^ 

Wando 57 

Savannah 58 

"Living with his squaw" 59 



44. Pacolet. This appears to be a version, in the French 
idiom, . of the true word Pacola or Pa-Kauli. For the term 
" Kauli " see Note 65. 

45. Sal-Uda. This is the leaping water. The river in fact 
leaps over many high places in its course from the Blue Ridge 
to the sea, giving nvimerous fine water-powers. The term 
" Uda " in the name shows striking likeness to the Greek Udor, 
the Sanskrit Uda, and the old Slavonic Woda, words denoting 
water. The most remote form of the word is seen in the true 
Hebrew of one of the names of Eden, the English writing in 
Au-de-Kau-li, or " Hiddekel," as it appears in the Biblical wri- 
tings. The term "Au-de" signifies briefly deep water. It is used 
as the name of a number of deep rivers in the Old World. In 
France the writing is Aiide, while in the names of Italy it ap- 
pears as Adda and Adi. The term is seen most frequently in 
the native names of America in the corruptions "Ota" and 
'• Uda," " Ute," or " Oo-taw." The name Utah applies origi- 
nally to a deep lake in the territory of this name. A name that 
appears to be kindred to Saluda is Salaqua (or Salaquoy, as 
usually written in the river names of Tennessee). The initial 
term " Sal " appears also to be kindred to the Latin Salio, to 
leap, and whence comes our word " sally." 

46. Tygar is given as a native Indian name. It shows like- 



42 SOVmnRM RIVERS. 

ness to the Oriental river name Tigris, or Te-ga-ri as it appears 
in its most remote form, the meaning simply deep water run- 
ning, and just as the Semitic form of the name, De-kau-li, sig- 
nifies deep water flowing. 

47. CoNGAREE. This musical Indian appellation has many 
interesting likenesses in the river nomenclature of the Old 
World. The expression is simply " Conga Ri," or Conga River, 
the aborigines of the continent who named its waters having 
had knowledge of the term " Ri " as a word for river. This 
statement is made on the authority of De Soto, who gives the 
term " Ri " as one of the native names of the Mississippi. 
Countless mere verbal facts are also in support of the state- 
ment. The word "Conga" or "Congo" is itself an Oriental 
term for river, it being one of a group of words in which are 
embraced the Sanskrit Ganga (Ganges) and the Chinese Kang- 
hi or Konki, all with similar significance, river or great water. 
A Spanish form of the word is Concho, this the name of a river 
in Texas. 

48. Wateree, an Indian name showing the term " Ri " in a 
composite with the Orientalism, Arabic Wady, or " Wattie," as 
our native names show it. It appears in the Alabama name 
Coosa-Wattie, and also in the South-American appellations 
showing the Spanish idiom in the writing Guatimauli, Guati- 
vita, etc. 

49. Seneka. This aboriginal word, found in New York and 
South Carolina, has its exact prototypes in the Old World 
nomenclature. The American name, however, doubtless ante- 
dates that of the noted Roman consul. And the river name 
Senegal is also doubtless prehistoric. The true form of our 
Indian word is evidently Sa-ni-ka, the term " Ni-ka" a corrup- 
tion of a remote original of which the Hebrew term for river, 
Na-ka-ri, or Nachar, is the highest and purest type known. 
This old Semitic term is reproduced in a variety of writings 
in the ancient names of the waters of the world. We see it 
in the German river appellation Neckar. It is in the African 
names Niger and Tanga-nika. We see it also as the initial in 
our Central-American name Nicar-augua. Our Indian term 
'• Nooka" is evidently a low corruption of the word. There 
appears to have been in the primitive tongue of man a word 
for water having the sounds of the English letters " e-cuh," 



THE RIVERS OE SOUTH CAROLINA. 48 

«• ee-ka," or " ee-ga," the writing frequently in '' i-co," or " i-cho," 
as seen in the name Jericho. This latter name, we know, owes 
its origin to the " exuberant waters " found about the site of the 
citv. The ancient term appears to have been used by the Rus- 
sian language-makers in the coinage of their term for river 
written in English either raga, rega or rika, simply running 
(Ri) water (Ga or Ka). The primitive term is reproduced in 
the old Latin eqiior, or cequor. We see it also in the Hebrew 
word for river written fully Aa-pa-li-ka (peleg), this a word re- 
produced exactly in the Indian name Opelika. Nowhere in the 
world is the ancient primitive term "ee-ka" found with more 
frequency and certainty than in the Indian namesof the waters 
of America. We shall have occasion to refer to the facts again. 
The old term has been given such a wide variety of verbal ex- 
pressions having identical sounds that we shall have no diffi- 
culty in recognizing it in the native Indian words. 

50. Santee. This name is doubtless Sand-dee, Santee a 
proper euphemism. See Note 80 for " Sand," and for Dee, 
in the "River Name," paragraph 4, page 99. 

51. Etowan and Wasmasaw are given as the Indian names 
of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. The latter was known 
also as the Kiawah {Kee-xvah, in pronunciation), the name 
now belonging to another and near-by river. See Note 26. 
Original titles have been changed in numerous instances, the 
words applving to different waters. We need not wonder at 
this, since most of the ancient appellations had no other signifi- 
cance than that of river, or water under its varying conditions. 
While different tribes had apparently different titles to the wa- 
ters, it has been found that the words themselves are near 
identities. The South Carolina name is usually written Et-i- 
WAX, while the similar appellation of Georgia is written Et-o- 
wah. If we follow the old Anglo-Saxon orthography in wri- 
ting the suffix, the true form of the name would be Et-a-wan. 
Our authorities give the term "Awan" as identical with 
"Avon," "Abon," "Abhan," and "Aban," old words for river 
in a number of the now obsolete dialects of Western Europe 
and the British Islands. The term as "Aban," or "Abon," ap- 
pears to be simply an abbreviation of the Arabic word given 
as the Biblical name Aban-aa, the equivalent of Hebraic Amana, 
whose original characters are rendered elsewhere in a transla- 



44 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

tion as " waters which flow perpetually." See Note 25. The 
words Habana and Havana are doubtless due to the same re- 
mote ancestry which gives us Abana, the former in the aspi- 
rate Spanish idiom. It is a further curious fact which shows 
that prototypes of the two native American names referred 
to, Etiwan and Etowah, are also found in the British Islands in 
the prehistoric names written Etawah and Etive. 

52. The term " Hatchie '' is an old Seminole word for river- 
This and the non-aspirated form of the word as "Atchie," or 
"Acha," are found in many parts of the continent in the native 
names of waters. They are found also in regions supposed 
to have been unknown to the old Seminole tribe, whose origi- 
nal domains were in the Florida peninsula and in the near-by 
bordering territory. Corruptions of the term exist in the wri- 
tings " Uchee," " Ouchie," " Houchee," etc. The purest form 
of the word known is in the old European (Celtic) term for 
river w ritten Acha, and as Aci in the Italian. See Note 169. 

1^3. Poca-Taligo is found as a river name in West Virginia 
also. It is a pure Indian word. The term " Poca " is doubtless 
the same word we have seen in Note 40. The term " 'Jaligo " 
appears to be kindred with the word Aa-palika referred in Note 
49. A corruption of the word is seen in the writing Tellico, 
Note 159. Jellico and Jericho are also apparently cognate 
names. The name Pocataligo applied not only to the river, but 
it was also known as the title (derived from the original river 
name) of a noted Indian village on the water, long famed as 
one of the "cities of refuge" among the aborigines. This 
ancient Mosaic institution, cities of refuge where accused 
criminals should have protection and an asylum, appears to 
have been well known among the old natives of America. 
One of the last of these Indian cities to disappear in the his- 
toric era was situated on the Tennessee River. See Note 151. 

54. Faulee, written also Folly. See Note 21. 

55. WiNNEE. "Winnee" is the wine-colored. This is the 
native name of a river now called the Black, from the color 
of its waters, which are of a rich wine hue. The term "Win- 
nee," seen in a number of the old native appellations of waters 
in Northern states and in British America, signifies, in the 
supposition of many writers, the muddy or the turbid. The 
color of the "Winnie " in South Carolina throws strong light 



THE RIVERS OE SOUTH CAROLINA. 45 

on the problems connected with the word. The waters of the 
Lake Winne-pisc-aqua, or Winne-piskoga, as sometimes writ- 
ten, are not colored; they are bright, and unusually clear and 
sparkling. The term '• Winne " in this name does not, there- 
fore, appear to refer to the waters of the lake, but to the inter- 
mediate factor in the name, the expression " pise." The waters 
of the lake have long been celebrated for their fine wine-col- 
ored salmon and trout. The inference is therefore clear that 
the name Winne-pisc-aqua was originally intended to deno'e 
the xvaters of the zvine-colored fsh. This interpretation carries 
with it the supposition, if not the fact, that the aboriginal phi- 
losopher who coined the expression "Winne-pisc-aqua" had 
knowledge of the Latin \soxdi%fisca and xviiia (vina). Many facts 
are in support of such a theory, but the limits and purview of 
these Notes forbid any extended discussion of the subject. 
There is, however, no doubt of the fact that there are scores of 
terms and full words in the aboriginal nomenclature of Amer- 
ica having not only exact likenesses in the Latin and Greek, 
but the common significances of the expressions appear to be 
also identical. This fact goes far to remove the question or fact 
of likeness from the sphere of mere accidency. The river and 
water nomenclature of prehistoric America shows no term with 
more frequence than that which we see in the forms of the 
Latin term for water, aqua. The word fisca, which is not known 
to antedate the Latin, is seen again in its purity in connection 
with the Roman term aqua, in another native appellation, Pis- 
ca-taqua, this the name of a lake one of whose tributaries was 
so noted for its fine fish that even in historic times it has received 
the title " Salmon Falls River." — It is worthy of note in this 
connection to state that in the book of the " Zeno Voyages," 
referred to in Note 22, the Italian authors say that even at the 
time of their visit to this new world (or "island," as they called 
it) there were Latin books still in existence here. And Mr. 
Prescott, the historian of the Mexican conquest, says that, at 
the time of the occupation by the Spaniards, Roman games and 
Roman sports and the Roman system of notation were known 
and practised by the natives. The cross as a symbol in relig- 
ion, not known anterior to the crucifixion of Christ, has been 
found in various parts of prehistoric America, the fact evinced in 
the famous " Lorrilard Collection " of relics in the Smithsonian 



46 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

Institution, at Washington Citj. The ruins of a temple dedi- 
cated to the Triune God, not known in any age anterior to 
Christ, was also discovered near the city of Mexico. Other 
Latin terms seen in the names of Southern rivers are referred 
to in Notes 130, 154, 45, 67, 126, 158, 100. 

56. CoMBAHEE. A local pronunciation gives the name sim- 
ply " Cumba" or " KuMBEE." The final term " Hee " is doubt- 
less but the mere word for" river," the equivalent of Chinese and 
Hebrew " Hia," and seen also in the Indian name Hia-wassie. 
The term " Cumba" is seen in the native Alabama names Tus- 
cumbia and Escambia 

57. Wando. Wando is an Oriental word for the sea. It is 
also the exact equivalent of Sanskrit Hondo, Indu, Sindhu, 
Inde, and Aande. The name India (pronounced "Ond" in 
French idiom) has the same origin. The ancient term is found 
in the prehistoric nomenclature of America; all its Old World 
forms are reproduced in our native names. As Wando, it is not 
only in the South Carolina appellation, but it is found in the 
original title of a stream in Pennsylvania, the To-wando. As 
Lo-Wando, it is in Central Africa, the term "Lo" a word for 
river. The term as Onte, Onde, or Aande is in the native names 
of a number of our deep waters, illustrations seen in the wri- 
tings Ontario, On-anda-ga, Onte-rocti or Aande-rocti, this latter 
the Indian name of Lake George, in New York, The aspirate 
form of the word is in the names Honduras and Hondo, of Texas. 
The ancient term as Aan-de or On-te,owes its origin to the germ- 
word De, the deep, in a composite with the Oriental expression 
Ain, En, or On (paragraph 13, the "River Name"), the word 
signifying simply deep, perpetual water. The oldest forms of 
the true word are seen in the Hebrew in the names of the ancient 
city Anti-och, on the banks of the river Aar-onte (Orontes). 

58. See Note 38 for Savannah. 

59. Catawba. See Note 29. A remnant of the old Usheree 
or Catawba Indians still live on a reservation in York and Lan- 
caster Counties in this state. 



THE RIVERS OF GEORGIA. 

From the mountains on the northward, how do Geor- 
gia's rivers go? 

How, to Mexiqiie Gulf and Ocean, do her waters fall 
and flow? — 

From the silvery Chattahoochie to the golden 
Etowah, 

To the broad and grand Savannah, by the deep Al- 

APAHAW ; 

From the turbid Occi.oconee to the crystal Tugalo, 

From Chattooga to Saint Mary's, Georgia's riv- 
ers come and go. — 

Northward Tennessee, Hiawassie, Notley, and 
ToccoA pour ; 

Here's Ulaffie's liquid laughter; here Turoree's 
toss and roar. 

Here are Herb and Fenhalowa, Wilmington, and 

WiLLACOUCHIE, 

Tybee, Newport, and Oci.ocknee, Crooked, Tur- 
tle, Suwanooche, 
Okeewalkee, and the Soque, and the tiny Tes- 

NATEE, 

And SuwANEE, oozing from the fens of Okee-fen- 

okee. — 
Here the Chestatee goes chaffing round and o'er the 

rocky steep ; 



48 SO U THERN RI I 'ERS. 

Here Ogeeciiee, Towaliga, and the two Sautillos 
creep 

Through the barrens by the cypress and morasses 
dank and deep. — 

Talking Rock and Coosa-wattie, Salaqloy, and 
Ellija Y, 

Oostenauli, Connesauga, — six in Coosa roll away. 

Here are Broad, Alcaup au-Hatciiie, Sautke saun- 
tering, Auchee-Hatchie, 

Leaping, terrible Tallulah, olden New, and Apa- 

LACHA. 

Here is Flint, once Thronadesca ; here Canou- 

chie's cany tide ; 
Here Ocmulgee, dark and murky, Altamahaw, 

deep and wide ; 
Sapelo and Hanna-Hatchie, sluggish Medway, 

bright Yahoola ; 
Little, once Occoloc-Oochie, Tallapoosa, and 

Patoula ; 
OccoPiLCO, and Occonee, and Occoa, clear and 

small ; 
IcH-A-wAY-NocH-A-WAY, and Amicolola, with its 

brawl ; 
Withlac-Oochie, and Welawnee, and the Chick- 
asaw, and all — 
From the Chattahoochie chattering, to Savannah 

murmuring low, 
Where is heard the Oohoopee : — so Georgia's rivers 

sing and go. 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF GEORGIA. 



See Note 

Chattahoochie 75 

Alpahaw 121 

Hiawassie 60 

Toccoa 61 

Tybee 116 

Okee-fen-okee 62 

Towaliga 63 

Sautillos loi 

Coosa-Wattie 64 

Salaquoy 15S 

Oostenauli 65 

Connesauga 163 

Alcaufau-Hatchie 66 



See Note 

Tallulah 67 

Thronadesca 6S 

Canouchee 69 

Hanna-Hatchie 70 

Yahoola 71 

Occoloc-Oochie 72 

Tallapoosa , 73 

Patoula 71 

Occonee 74 

Occoa 76 



Savannah 77 

Oohoopee 7S 

Nochawav B 



60. Hi\WASsiE. This is a short river, but iis waters are in 
three different states. It is referred to more fully in Note 153. 

61. Toccoa. This ^vord is variously written, as Tocoa, Tuc- 
coa, Toquoy, Tockoi. It is the same native word which we 
find as a term in the writings Taqua, Tauga, Daigua, Tioga, 
and in the corruptions and abbreviations "Tock," ''Toga," 
"Tuckee," etc. A type of the word, as Tokoi, is found not onlj^ 
in the Hebrew, but also in the Japanese. The significance of 
the word appears to be simply deep waters, — its origin in the 
term aqua, water, and the germ-word te, the deep. The word 
" Occoa " is an Indian corruption, the equivalent of aqua or ogha. 
See Note 6. The Toccoa was known also as the Aquokee. 

62. Okee-fen-okee. There are various pronunciations of the 
name of this great swamp of Southern Georgia. The native 
accent is usually on the last syllable of their words. It is a re- 
markable fact that in the old Indian names of swamps, and of 
some rivers in low, marshy regions, there is found the old Cel- 
tic word for swamp, "fen." The names Okeefenokee, Fenha- 
lowa, and Econfenee are illustrations — the latter a Florida ap- 
pellation. The term "Okee" is a well-known native word for 
water or river, it being a pronunciation of the Sanskrit as ogha, 
or a corruption of the Latin as aqica. See Note 6. 

63. Towaliga. The suffix "al-iga"in this name is referred 

4 



50 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

to in Note 53. The initial To or To-a/i is doubtless the term 
Toa/i referred to in Notes 20 and 2. 

64. Coosa-Wattie. The term " Wattie " in this name has 
been referred to in Note 48. It is evidently a real "term " in 
the full sense of that word, and the exact equivalent of the 
Arabic Wady and Spanish Guade. The term is dropped from 
the name of the tributary, and the river becomes simply the 
"Coosa" in the lower part of its course in this state. The 
word "Coosa" is found in different Southern states as the name 
of rivers. In South Carolina it is rendered " Coosaw." As 
"Coos," the word is also in the New Testament. In the native 
dialects of America the word appears to be simply a guttural 
form of the term Usa or Ouse, meaning river. See Note 24. 

65. OosTENAULi. See Note 154 for the term " Oosta." The 
word Nau-li is a Hebrew term for river, doubtless the remote 
original of the name Nile. In the ancient Hebraic MSS. the 
form of the word is expressed in the symbols corresponding to 
English N-L, the usual writing Nahal or Na-auli. We find the 
term as "Nolly" in the Indian nomenclature. See Note 154. 

66. Alcaufau-Hatchie. The modern abbreviation of this 
true name is written "Alcova," the term for river, " Hatchie," 
dropped. 

67. Tahlulah. This word is said to mean " the terrible." 
The physical facts as well as the verbal truths are well in sup- 
port of the tradition. The word appears to owe its origin to 
the Latin term terrerc as tellele. The old Cherokees, from 
whom the word comes, did not use the letter R in their dia- 
lects, hence the form of the word as tcUdc, this also a legitimate 
form of the Latin, the old Romans using the letters R and L 
interchangeably. The briefer terms " Telia " and " Talla," seen 
so frequently in the (Cherokee) Indian names, must be regard- 
ed as having a different origin. The Indians appear to have 
used these terms Talla, Telia, and Tulla in the sense of 
"muddy" or "earthy," and hence these words appear due to 
the Latin as terre or tella, earth. See Note 73. 

68. Thronadesca. This was the native name of the river 
now called Flint. The late Dr. David Reese, of Georgia, 
whose father was one of the early pioneers of the country, 
gives the name also as Fleenadesca or Fleenatesca. The 
term "Throna " occurs in the native name of a lake in Florida. 



THE RIVERS OF GEORGIA. 51 

The term " Sea," the final in the names, is referred to in Note 

69. Canouchee. See Note 15 for the term "Can," and Note 
72 for "Ouchie." 

70. Hanna-Hatchie. The term " Hanna " is simply an as- 
pirated form of the word "An-na," as in the name Susque- 
hanna. The two synonyms in the word are explained in para- 
graph 9, the " River Name." For '• Hatchie " see Note 169. 

71. Yah-ooli. For the term " Ya," seen in this name, see 
Note 39. The word Ou-li or Ula, seen in so many of the na- 
tive river names of America, is a parallel form of the term Ou- 
ri or Ura. The oldest forms of the word are in the Hebrew 
and the Chinese. In the former it is written Uleah, the name 
of a water. In the Manchu dialect of China the form of the 
word as Ula or Ouli is a term for river. The word as Ya-li in 
the Chinese is the same which we see in the English writings 
as the Yellow (Sea) and Yellow (River). The identity of the 
terms Ouli and Ouri is illustrated in our Indian names Missou- 
ri and Missouli, the same word in different dialects, many of 
the old Indians rejecting the sounds of the letter R. See Notes 
67 and 147. The word as Tu-lee is found in the Indian nomen- 
clature. 

72. The Indian name of the Little was Occoloc-Oochee, 
the initial term seen also in the name Ocklock-Nee. Oochee, 
or Uchee was the old Muscogee word for river. There is a 
creek in Georgia and one in Alabama having the name simply 
Uchee. The tribe of Indians known as Uchees received their 
title from the Alabama name. Uchee is a corruption of Acha. 
The word is found in one of the old dialects of the British Is- 
lands, a term for river, the ancient writing Uxe. See Note 
169. 

73. Talla-Poosa. The term " Talla " is supposed to signify 
the " muddy " or the "earthy," Note 67. It is found in the 
native names of rivers whose banks, caving in, give the muddy 
or earthy character to the waters. The suffix " Poosa " con- 
tains the old Anglo-Saxon term " Usa," the initial P supposed 
to indicate in the Indian tongue, as it did in the old Roman lan- 
guage, the idea of "powerful." See Note 103. 

74. OccoNEE. See Note 25. 

75. Chatta-Hoochie. The term " Chatta " is given as an 



52 SOUTHERN RUBERS. 

old Choctaw and Cherokee name of the owl, the pronunciation 
expressing, in an onomatopoetic sense, the notes of the bird, 
and just as the word Wi-on-ias-sa in the Osage tongue meant 
whippoorwill. 

76. OccoA. The name is written on old maps as Aquo-ke 
also. See Note 155. 

77. Savannah. See Note 38. 

78. OoHooPEE. This is the river (" Ooh," or " Eau ") Upa 
or OoPEE. The word Oupa is a well-known corruption of the 
Sanskrit term for water, Ap-aa, referred to in paragraph 12, 
the "River Name." The corruption is conspicuous only in the 
river names of Russia and America, although found elsewhere 
in the appellations of waters. Russia has a river whose name is 
written either Oupa, Upa, or Oopa. One of the rivers of Cali- 
fornia appears to have had the name originally as " Hoopa," 
in the Spanish writing, the title preserved in the name of an old 
tribe of Indians who lived on the waters of the stream. This 
is evidently the name we now have in the English idiom as 
7~uha. There are two rivers in California with this name. We 
see the term as " oupa" in the suffix of the Texas and Spanish 
appellation Guadeloupe. A parallel form, as well as a con- 
gener, of the word as Upa, is seen in the writings Uba and 
Yuba. See Note 29. 

B. See Note C, page 60, the *' Rivers of Florida." 



THE RIVERS OF FLORIDA. 

Where the orange grows and gladdens, and the sum- 
mer softly sleeps, 

Florida in summer stillness all her many rivers keeps : 

From Perdido bordering westward, to Saint Mary's 
eastern flow ; 

Through the hummocks and the pine-lands, turning, 
creeping, there they go : 

Who that e'er has seen them wonders why the Span- 
iard loved them so? — 

Where the swan and water-eagle make their brooding 
and their nest, 

Amaxura and the Charlotte there go crooking to 
the West; 

Westward wind the Weekee^vatchie, Withla- 

COOCHIE, SaNTAFFEE, 

Tampa's Hillsborough, Miaka, and the Pithla- 

CHASCATEE, 

Itchee-puckee-sassee, Hammoth, roving Rogers 
and a New, 

Chockoliscee, Cork-Screw, twirling with an Alli- 
gator too ! 

Softly southward sweeps Suwannee, sweet Suwan- 
nee, famed in song. 



54 SOUTHERN RUBERS. 

In melodies that echo still the vanished olden tongue. 
South flow Alaqua, Ocilla, Saint Marks, Apa- 

lachicola, 
Choctaw-Hatchie, Shoal, Escambia, Occoloco- 

NEE, and Chipola, 
Attapulgo, Crooked, Brother, and Alapahaw, 

Waucassie, 
And SoPCHOPPY, and a Little, and the wandering 

Waukeesassa. 
Southward glides the small Talooga ; so Wau- 

kulla winds away ; 
So Black Water, Econfenee, New and Yellow, 

and the Bay, 
Fenhalowa, and Stein-Hatchie where the waves 

with mosses play. 
Westward creep the Cootee-Hatchie, Anclote, 

Alafiah, Pease, 
Chassa-howit-sca, Apopka, Crystal, Salt and 

Manatees. 
Eastward crawls the gray Opossum, Saint Sebas- 
tian, Little, North, 
Lemon, Bell and Jupiter, and Jolly, Snake, there 

stealing forth ; 
Nassau, Halifax, Matanzas, and Saint Lucy, 

Eaugallie, 
Middle and Hulpatiokee and Amelia, Miami, 
EcoNTocK, ToMOKA, TuRKEY, thcsc all soughing to 

the sea. 



THE RIVERS OF FLORIDA. 55 

Out from Okec-cho-bee's marshes, hot Caloosa- 
Hatchie steals ; 

Out from lake-lands fair, Kissimmee all her wondrous 
wealth reveals ; 

Out from bright, pellucid fountain, fountain deep and 
pure and wide, 

Homossassie's crystal currents, matchless marvels, 
gulfward glide ; 

Out in coquetry with ocean, lags the tawny Indian's 
tide ; 

Out from hummock rich and gloomy, home of bruin 
and of deer, 

Gulfward winds the wee Wakiva, dancing, spark- 
ling, bright, and clear. 

Northward Rita runs to lake, where the lazy current 
sleeps ; 

Out from OcKLAWAHAW northward, grand Saint 
John to ocean sweeps. 

Out go Alcatopa, Harney, Gallivant, from Ev- 
erglades, 

With Wahlika, Fahkan-Hatchie, neath the som- 
ber palm-made shades, 

With Caximbas, Chitta-Hatchie, these all wan- 
dering in the South, 
Where the Shark is throwing open from the gloom 

his murky mouth. — 
O'er the sands or reefs, here broadening into ocean, 
gulf, or bay. 



56 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

Where the countless wild fowl gather there to dream 
the years away ; 

Where the orange grows and gladdens, and the sum- 
mer nods and sleeps, 

Florida in summer stillness all her drowsy waters 
keeps ; 

From Perdido bordering westward, to Saint Mary's 
eastern flow ; 

Past Suwannee sung in ditties, murmuring ever 
soft and low ; — 

Who that e'er has sailed there wonders why the Span- 
iard loved them so? 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF FLORIDA. 



See Note 

Amaxura 79 

Santaffee 80 

Hammoth Si 

Suwannee S2 

Ocilla S3 

Escambia 107 

Taloo^a S4 

Econfenee 85 

Stein-Hatchie S6 

Anclote S7 

Apopka SS 

Saint Lucy S9 



See Note 

Eaugallie 90 

Miami 91 

Econtock 92 

Tomoka 93 

Kissimmee 94 

Homossassie 95 

"In coquetry with ocean". 96 

Ocklawahaw 97 

Itcliee-puckee-sassee C 

Waukulla D 

Rita E 

" In Summer Stillness".... F 



79. Amaxura. This is an old native name of a river now 
commonly called the larger Withlocoochee, there being two 
rivers in the state with this latter name. There are also two 
called New and two Manatee. The name written "Amaxura," 
with its term •* Ura " referred to in Note 30, is doubtless the 
same aboriginal word written Amaccura, a river in South 
America. There are numerous identities in the native names 
of the two sections of the continent, H. H. Bancroft, the his- 
torian, who has given the subject long and careful investiga- 
tion, says, in his work on the native races of the continent, 
that all its dialects reveal a common origin. The term "Ama " 
in the names cited is referred to in paragraph 4, the " River 
Name." 

80. Santaffee. This is the true native name. It is not 
Santa-Fe, of the Spanish ecclesiasticism. The terms " Sand," 
or " Sant," and "Affa" are in other Indian appellations. See 
Notes 50 and 24. 

81. Hammoth. This name occurs also in the Hebrew. 

82. Suwannee. This celebrated Indian appellation is re- 
ferred to in Note 38. 

83. Ocilla. This native Indian name is also written 
Aquilla. The word evidently has the same origin of the Bib- 
lical appellation Aquila, the name of one of the companions 



58 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

of St, Paul, the likenesses accidental doubtless. The name is 
found also in African nomenclature. 

84. Talooga. This is doubtless a corruption of the original 
whence come the writings Taligo and Tellico. See Note 53. 
The modern Indian writing gives the word as Tallaquah, a 
city of the Indian Territory. 

85. EcoNFENEE. This writing contains the term " Econ," 
or "Ecan," which is doubtless the same as that seen as the 
final in such native names as Michigan, Wauregan, Oregon, 
etc. The term " Fen" is referred to in Note 62. 

86. Stein-Hatchie. This old Indian name has as its initial 
the German word for stone, stein, in connection with the Sem- 
inole term for river, the writing " Hatchie," seen so frequently 
in the names of the rivers of this state, the old territory of the 
Seminoles. See Note 169. 

87. Anclote. This word is pronounced locally in two syl- 
lables, the accent on the last, and in long sound of O, as An- 
clote. 

88. Apopkee, usually written Caloos-Apopka. The word 
" Caloosa," " Calusa," or " Colusa," seen in the native names of 
two of the Florida rivers, is also a native California appella- 
tion, the old title of the river now^ known as the Sacramento, 
this a name showing the influence of the ancient Spanish priest- 
hood there. " Cal-usa" means hot water, or warm water, both 
phvsical and verbal facts in support of the declaration. The 
term " Cal " is referred to more fully in Note 147; " Usa," in 73, 
and elsewhere in these pages. 

89. Saint Lucy. The true word is doubtless not the eccle- 
siasticism "Saint Lucy," but Sand-Lousa. The term " Lou- 
sa" is found in the native Indian name of waters not only in 
Florida, but elsewhere. Florida has the lake name Loch-loosa, 
the term "Lack" occurring also in the name Lackawanna. 
The term "Lousa" is referred to more fully in Note 170; the 
term "Sand" referred to in Note 80. 

90. Eau-Gallie. This name contains the term "Gau-li" 
referred to in Note 18. Different versions of the same origi- 
nal word are found in the Wisconsin name written Oghalla, 
and the Florida city name Ocala. 

91. Miami, with accent as Mi-am-ee on last syllable. This 
native name is found also in Indiana and Ohio. 



THE RIVERS OF FLORIDA. 59 

92. EcoNTOCK. The true word is doubtless Ecan-Taqua, 
the final vowel omitted in the modern expression. " Ecan " is 
referred to in Note 85; Taqua, in Note 61, 

93. ToMOKA. This appears to be a corruption of the word 
as Te-Maqua, or more fully Te-Ma-Aqua, Ma-aqua is the abo- 
riginal name of the river now known as the Hudson, of New 
York. The title still survives in the corruption " Mohawk," the 
name of one of the tributaries of the Hudson. George Ban- 
croft, the historian, says the word Ma-aqua denoted simply 
" The Great River." It may be worthy to state that the germ- 
word as "Mah" is given as the old Sanskrit root of the Latin 
word magnus, great. The aborigines had a corruption of the 
expression, Ma-aqua, which we now see in the writing 
" Muckee," denoting, in the native mind, " Big Water," the 
term seen in the lake name Winne-Muckee, and in the old 
Cherokee title of the Tennessee Riveras Kalla-Mucky. See 
Note 164. 

94. KissiMMEE, pronounced locally as Kis-sim-ma, the ac- 
cent on the second syllable. Kissammo is in European geog- 
raphy. 

95. Homo-Sassa. This and the Tarpon Springs are among 
the most remarkable of the many phenomenal waters of the 
state, this a wonderful realm of fountains, lakes, and unique 
streams. The term " Homa," found also as Aa-ma or Am-ah, 
Yo-ma and Homa in the Hebrew, where it was used to denote 
waters under various conditions, as seas, lakes, rivers, and har- 
bors, has been referred to in paragraph 4, the " River Name." 

96. "In coquetry with ocean." The Indian river approaches 
very near the Atlantic in several places before finally yielding 
its current to the embrace of the sea. 

97. OcKLAWAHAW. This is the native name of a river now 
called the Saint Johns, the true word now applying to the 
water which is the source of the main stream. Ocklawahaw 
is given as a Seminole word denoting, in the native tongue, 
simply "flowing waters." Its ancestry is seen in the germ- 
word Li, or La, and " Ock " and " Waha " waters. See para- 
graph I, the " River Name," for " Li." 

C. It will be observed, doubtless, by the reader, that there are 
in the names of a number of the rivers of this state terms or 
features not held in common with the majority of the expressions 



60 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

of the Indian nomenclature of other parts of the country. Such 
expressions as " Itchee," " Withla," " Pithla," " Hulpa," " Fah- 
kan," and others peculiar to the water names of Florida, evi- 
dently belong to the modern dialects of the country, and not to 
the tongue of the primitive colonists. Most of the lake names 
of the state appear to be of the modern coinage also. The dia- 
lectic expression •' Itchee " is seen also in the Georgia name 
Icha-xvay-Nochaxvay. The name Ichazvur occurs in Oriental 
nomenclature. 

D. In the old Spanish this is written Guaxula. The word is 
precisely the same thing etymologically as Eaugallie, referred 
to Note 90 — "Kulla" a corruption of Gaulie and " Wa " the 
Teutonic equivalent of French " eau." 

E. Rita is an ancient Old World word for river or deep run- 
ning water. Corruptions exist in Reda, Rood, Ruth, Rotter, 
and otherwise. The Dutch name Rotterdam shows the term ; 
this the "dam" on the Rotter, or the river. 

F. *' In summer stillness." There are but few of the rivers 
of Florida the murmur of whose currents can be heard at the 
distance of a dozen yards. 

Thiere are a number of the river names showing corrup- 
tions of terms and other expressions that have been so fre- 
quently referred to in the previous Notes that I have made 
no immediate references to them here. The likenesses to the 
ancestral types suggested will be readily recognized and lo- 
cated by the reader who has read the work continuously thus 
far. 



THE RIVERS OF ALABAMA. 

Where the Indian, fleeing southward, hard by North- 
ern foemen pressed. 
Found a hunting-home in peace, is Alabama : " Here 

we rest ! " 
Past Paint Rock and Flint here came he ; over 

sucking, tumbHng Tennessee ; 
Over Warrior (Tusca-Loosa), down Cahawba 

did he flee ; 
Leaving Elk, Louk-Sapa-Tilla ; seeing Sipsee ; 

crossing Coosa : 
Past ToMBECKBEE, Oaknoxubee; paddhng pretty 

Talla-Poosa ; 
Past Sepulga, and Chattooga chattering nightly as 

an owl : 
Butta-Hatchie, Suarpokee, Patsiliga, and the 

Fowl : 
Roaming by the New and Little, over North and 

Choctaw-Hatchie, 
Past the Red and bounding Deer, and the prattling 

Apalacha : 
Then in peace he rested ; hunted ; fished he then in 

Hillabee ; 
In Conecuh, Yellows-Water, Choctaw-Hatchie, 

Styx and Pea 5 — 



62 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

Fished in waters fringed with mosses in the glades, 

Kantappahaw, 
And Escambia, Bonsecour, and Tensaw, Fish and 

Chickasaw. — 
From the border by Perdido, to the eastmost EscA- 

TAPPA, 

Over Mobile in its beauty, fishing, hunting, dreaming, 
happy — 

Here the Red Man, fleeing southward, hard by lake- 
side foemen pressed, 

Found the game and grave forever! Alabama! 
Here they rest ! 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF ALABAMA. 



See Note 

Talla-Poosa 103 

Chattoog-a ; 104 

Butta-Hatchie 105 

Hillabee 29 

Conecuh 49 

Kantappahaw 15, 116 

Escambia 56, 107 

Bonsecour 106 

Escatappa 107 

Mobile loS 



Alabama, ^ 


Sep Note 
98 


Flint 


^6S 


Tusca-Loosa 


100 


Louk-Sapa-Tilla 


lOI 


Coosa 


64 



Tombeckbee 102 

Oaknoxubee 29 



98. Alabama— " Here we rest." There is a belief that the 
name Alabama meant, in the Indian tongue, " Here we rest." 
It is said to have been a joyful exclamation of an oppressed 
people who, fleeing southward from their more powerful foes 
of the northern lake regions, found a resting-place on the banks 
of the Alabama River. It has been recently claimed, however, 
in the interest of historic truth, that the so-called "legend" is 
but a bit of clever and innocent fiction, emanating solely in 
the brain of a distinguished son of Alabama, still living and 
honored as a poet and a jurist. The coinage, however, is so 
replete with graceful and poetic fancies, and withal so well in 
accord with historic possibilities, if not historic truth itself, 
that I shall not only give it a lodgment here, but I endeavor 
furthermore to picture the flight of the oppressed over the dif- 
ferent waters of the northern part of the state, leaving them, 
the aborigines, fugitives no longer, in the blissful existence of 
hunting, fishing, and paddling along the other waters of the 
central and southern part of the state. I shall add this much 
more, for the benefit of readers who have a fondness for the 
curious in word-lore. The name Alabama, which is unques- 
tionably a native appellation, contains apparently two distinct 
terms which are not seen in any other river name of America. 
These are "Alia" and " Bauma." The latter is a well-known 
ancient word regarded as the remote type, if not the ances- 
try, of the English word "balm." The original word denotes 
anything that soothes or delights, The writing "Allah " is the 



64 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

name of the Mohammedan Deitj, the equivalent of the He- 
brew Eloi, the true God, The historian, Prescott, calls atten- 
tion to the instances in which the Greek name of the Deity, 
Theos, and the Latin Deus, occur in the language of the an- 
cient Mexicans. The knowledge of the ancient philosophers 
who named the waters of the continent appears to have em- 
braced many curious and startling features that are not charge- 
able to accident except in the trespass upon reason. The name 
of the leading character worshiped by the Brahmans, Buddha, 
^s also found in the Indian appellation of one of the rivers of 
Alabama, the word written as Butta-Hatchie, the dental 
sounds on the native tongue never so perfect or distinct as to 
enable the hearer to determine clearly the enunciation, 
whether it expresses a T or a D. Illustration of this fact is 
given in Notes 50 and 147. The word " Butta " is not found 
elsewhere in the Indian names of America, at least so far as my 
researches have extended. The occurrences may be all acci- 
dental. I give them "for what they are worth" — no more. 

99. " Sucking, tumbling Tennessee." The reference is to 
places in the Tennessee River that are known to boatman and 
others as "the sucks." These are dangerous localities along 
the " Mussel Shoals " where the current seethes and boils and 
tumbles over the immense ledges of limestone that obstruct 
the flow of the waters. Rafts and boats are frequently drawn 
under the current in these " sucks." There are other points on 
the river known as the "Frying Pan," "The Skillet," "The 
Pot," etc., referred to in other Notes (147, 152). The word 
"Tennessee" is not pure Indian: it is a fanciful writing of the 
original name Ten-assa. The Cherokee name of the river was 
Chal-aqua or Kal-aqua, sometimes written in old works Kella- 
kee. 

100. Tuscaloosa. This is the native name of a river now 
known as the Big Warrior or Black Warrior. The great chief- 
tain of the Tuscaloosa tribe of Indians was killed on the banks 
of this river in 1540 in battle with the Spaniards under De 
Soto. The slain leader was a warrior with a very black skin ; 
and in consequence of the fact he was referred to by the white 
Europeans as the "black, black warrior," this name appearing 
on the oldest English maps of the country. The title of the 
tribal chieftain came from the native name of the river. See 



THE RIVERS OF ALABAMA. 65 

Note 29. The term for river in the word is in the expression 
" Loosa," which owes its origin to the ancient term for water 
"Ousa" and the germ-word "Li," the flowing. See Note 89. 
There are many striking facts connected with the term " Tus- 
ca," seen in this Alabama name. It is found originally in the 
prehistoric names of our waters only in a narrow belt of lati- 
tude stretching from the shores of the Atlantic, where the old 
Tuscarora Indians had their hunting-grounds, to Arizona, 
where it ends, the last apparent survival in the name w ritten in 
the Spanish idiom Tucson. There are so many evidences of 
the Roman knowledge possessed by the ancient aborigines of 
the continent that it has been conjectured that the word "Tus- 
ca " seen in the native American nomenclature is reproduced 
from the ancient Latin name Tusca, which once applied to the 
Roman province now known as Tuscany. The word appears 
to have been left in the New World by some early explorers 
and colonists, and as the memorial of their fatherland. From 
time immemorial it has been customary for new colonists in 
virgin countries to fix in the nomenclature of the country some 
memento or testimonial of the ancestral home or the ancestral 
tongue. The migrations of the ancient Celts and Moors, and 
various other peoples, have been followed and traced over the 
Old World simply by the shreds of their tongue left in the pre- 
historic nomenclature of different regions. In like manner the 
old French and Dutch and Spanish and German colonists of 
this continent have left mementoes of the mother tongue in ev- 
ery locality where their influence was long felt. The term 
"Tusca" has some curious connections. Tusca-ora means lit- 
erally a native or inhabitant of Tusca. The Tuscarora Indians 
were said to be "shirt-wearers." Possibly the ancient garments 
brought from the fatherland gave rise to the tradition. 

loi. Louk-Sapa-Tilla. The term "Tilla" is simply De-la, 
the deep flowing. It is in the Georgia name Sau-tilla. " Sapa" 
is sepe. (Note 10.) " Louk " is an unknown dialectic term. 

102. ToMBiGBEE. The river is now usually referred to in 
the abbreviation "Bigb3^" The true native name was "Tom- 
Beck-Bee. (See Note 4 for " Beck.") 

103. Talla-Poosa. (See Note 73.) The term " Tallah " is 
supposed to mean "muddy" or "earthy." On the Tallapoosa 
River is a noted waterfall having the native name " Talassa." 

5 



66 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

This word is strikingly like the old Greek term for the sea, 
TJialassa, this showing origin in the germ words Te as "Tha" 
in the Greek idiom, and Li and assa as "lassa." The pure 
form of the term we have seen in the Indian corruption " Lou- 
sa." "Te" is the deep; "Li" is the flowing; and "assa," wa- 
ter — the deep-flowing water — a brief, yet comprehensive, desig- 
nation of the sea. See paragraph 6, the " River Name," for 
fuller reference to the germ-words named. See also Note 170 
for Lousa. 

104. Chattooga. For the term " Chatta " see Note 76. 

105. Butta-Hatchie. See Note 98 for " Butta," and 169 for 
" Hatchie." 

106. BoNSECOUR. This is evidently an original word in 
French idiom. 

107. Esca-Tappa. This is the native name of the river 
called Dog or Cedar on some of the maps. The term " Esca," 
seen also in the prehistoric names of America as " Esque " and 
" Eska," is found also in the Hebrew in the names Esca-lon and 
Aska-lon. It is also in the old Irish and Welsh in the writings 
Aesca, Isca, Uisque, and otherwise, with the significance of 
water or river. The original writing of the name Wisconsin 
shows one of the old Irish forms of the word, Ouisque-onsin. 
The word " whisky " owes origin to the Irish form of the word. 
The term "Tappa " is doubtless the same original word we have 
in the Indian nomenclature as " Tippa." The oldest form of 
the word known is in the Hebrew name of a water En-Tap- 
puah, now called simply Tappuah. See Note 116. 

108. Mobile. The Indian name was originally written Mau- 
bela or Maubile, and also Mauvila, 



THE RIVERS OF MISSISSIPPI. 

All along the west meandering, here, far up, full Mis- 
sissippi, 

Restless monarch, always marvel, from his burdened 
mossy lip he 

Out on live oak and magnolia bottoms prodigally spills 

A SUNFLOW^ER, once SOCK-TAFFA-TOOTA ; TaLLA- 

Hatchie from the hills 
Eastward drinks it with Coldwater, changing into 

Yazoo where 
Yalla-boosha and Loosa-scoona seek the flitting 

" Father" there, — 
They and Bt.ack and Home-chitto, and, from 

bayou, deep Pierre. 
Northward in the knob-lands, Tippa, Wolf, and 

Hatchie hie away ; 
Loitering Leaf, Fox, Buckatoona, in the far south 

seek the bay. 
Pasca-gouli, Chickasawha, with the Tulla-ho- 

MA blending. 
And BouGH-HoMA, slowly southward darkened cur- 
rents here are sending. 
O'er eastern borders Esca-tappa and Ocktibbehaw 

here break ; 
Here Noxubee, Butta-hatchie, Wolkee part of 

Mobile make ; 



68 SOUTHERN RUBERS. 

Tangapahoe, Pearl and Tipsaw, Strong and 
Amite meet in Lake. — 

Somber waters, somber borders, where the languid 
saurian dwells 

'Neath the live oak's mossy mantle and the grand mag- 
nolia dells. 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF MISSISSIPPI. 



See Note 

Sunflower 109 

Talla-Hatchie no 

Yazoo Ill 

Yalla-Boosha 112 

Loosa-Scoona... 89 

'• Flitting ' Father ' " 113 

Homa-Chitto 114 

Pierre 115 

Tippa 116 

Hatchie 1 10 

Buckatoona 117 



See Note 

Pasca-Gouli 118 

Tulla-Homa 114 

Bough-Homa 114 

Esca-Tappa 107 

Ocktibbehaw 116 

Noxubee 119 

Butta-Hatchie 105 

Wolkee 120 

Mobile 108 

Tangapahoe 121 

Lake 122 



109. Sunflower. The Sunflower River is simply an over- 
flow of the Mississippi, a debouchure from the main current. 
The Indian name of the stream was Sock-taffa-toota. 
"Taffa" is doubtless the same original word now written both 
*' Tappa " and " Tippa," and just as Jaffa and Jappa are the same. 
The name Java appears to be an etymological equivalent. See 
Note 116 for the term "Tappa." 

no. Hatchie. The term "Hatchie" has been heretofore 
referred to as the old Seminole and Muscogee word for river. 
It is found in the British possessions and also in South Ameri- 
ca in prehistoric nomenclature, but invariably in connection 
with some other term either a synonym or a modern descrip- 
tive. It is used in the appellative sense alone only in this in- 
stance and in the name of the same river in Tennessee. "Tal- 
la " is supposed to mean the muddy. See Note 73. 

111. Yazoo. There is in Russia a river with the same orig- 
inal name, the word rendered from the Russian symbols either 
Yazwa or Yazoo. The true word is Ya-soo, or Ya-su, a com- 
posite with the two synonyms — Hebrew " Ya," and the Orien- 
tal term "Su," river — seen in our river name Sioux in its 
French garb. Another Russian name reproduced in Missis- 
sippi is Wolkee. 

112. Yali-Boosha. " Ya-li" is the same as " Wa-li," water 
flowing. The most remote form of the term is in the Hebrew 
of the Edenic name Au-wau-li, this in the Anglicism Havillah. 



70 SOUTHERN klVBRS. 

The Edenic word is found in its absolute purity in the old Sho- 
shone dialect of the Pacific Coast, where it is given as the tribal 
term for river. The word survives in the appellation of the two 
rivers coming together in Eastern Oregon, " Walla-Walla." 
" Wa-li " is the old Anglo-Saxon original of our word "well" 
as applied to a fountain of waters. As " Ya-li," the term is in 
the Chinese, the word we now have as " Yellow," the Chinese 
name for a sea and a river. The Alabama river name now 
known as "Yellow Water" I am satisfied was originally Ya- 
li Wattee, a native Indian name. The term " Boosha " is sup- 
posed to be a mere dialectic expression. A corruption of the 
initial term is seen as Yu-lee in a nvimber of Indian names on 
the continent. 

113. " Flitting 'Father.'" The Mississippi is sometimes called 
the " Father of Waters," under the supposition that its name 
signifies this fact. The tradition doubtless comes from one of 
the old titles given bj De Soto, the discoverer, as Chuck- 
AuGUA. This name shows some analogy to the Choctaw term 
for the Deity, Chihowa, and the Delaware Indian equivalent, 
Je-ho, or Che-ho. There is an interesting tradition connected 
with this word, which may not be inappropriate here. This 
legend states that far back in the ages the finger of the Great 
Spirit touched the primeval mountain wall at the place now 
called the " Delaware Water Gap," cleaving a passage eastward 
for the waters long imprisoned beyond. Henceforth the river 
was known to the aborigines as " God's River," the idea ex- 
pressed in the Delaware tongue in the ancient aboriginal title 
of the river Chi-ho-Occi, the term for river in the suflix 
" Occi," this evidently a corruption of Ogha or Aqua. For fur- 
ther reference to the name Mississippi, see Note 130. Chuck- 
auga is the true word now written Chicago. 

114. Homa-Chitta. The term " Homa " has been referred 
to in paragraph 4, the " River Name," and also in Note 95. 
Chitta is supposed to be a corruption of the word " Chatta," 
meaning owl. See Note 76. 

115. Pierre. The pronunciation is Pe-ayr. It is supposed 
to be a native name, the term "Aar" found in many of the 
native appellations. See the " River Name," paragraph 8. The 
term " Pe " is in the South Carolina name Pee-Dee. 

1 16. TiPPA. Etymologically, this word, as Tepa, denotes sim- 



THE RIVERS OF MISSISSIPPI. 71 

ply deep water. It is doubtless the same original term which is 
seen in the native names of our waters in the diverse writings 
Tippee, Tibbee, Tjbee, Tappa, and Taffa. This is the only in- 
stance in which it is found alone in the appellative sense; in all 
other cases it is in a composite with other terms; these in most 
instances mere synonyms, as in the name Tippa-canou and its 
near identity Kantappahaw. The oldest form of the word 
known is in the Hebrew name of a water originally written 
En-Tappua, the term "En" referred to in paragraph 13, the 
"River Name." The Syrian name is now written Tappuah. 
We see the same original word in the name of a city of France, 
bv the deep waters of the sea, the word written in the French 
idiom Deippe. The term " Tippa " is also in the old Irish no- 
menclature, in the name Tipperary. 

117. BucKA-TooNA. The term "Toona" in this name shows 
analogy to the German word for Danube, Doonaa. It is the 
ancient name Dena in corruption. See Note 12. 

118. Pasca-Goula. The term "Goula" here is doubtless 
but a corruption of the word Gauli, referred to Note 18. " Pas- 
ca " is the same as the term written " Pasquo " in the name of 
the North Carolina river Pasquo-tank. 

119. Noxubee. The term " Ubee " is evidently the same as 
the California name Yuba. The term is seen also in the He- 
brew word for river, Yu-bali. Note 29. 

120. WoLKEE. This name is identical with the Russian ap- 
pelation written either Volga, Wolgee, or Wolka. We see the 
same word in the Georgia appellation Okee-wolkee. 

121. Tangapahoe. The term "Tang" is referred to Note 
5. The suffix "Apahaw " is found in the Georgia name Al- 
apahaw. Apa-haw is simply river. 

122. The rivers named all go to Lake Ponchartrain, in 
Louisiana. 



THE RIVERS OF LOUISIANA. 

From the Pearl to Sabine westward, by plantation 

and savanna, 
And her rice-lands, giilfward lag the sluggish streams 

of Louisiana. 
Here's Chifuncte ; and here Bogue-chitto ; Sara, 

too, with cypress stain ; 
Tangapahoe, Amite, Comite, Tickfaw; — all to 

Pontchartrain. 
Here are Grand, Lafourche, the lazy ; Terra- 
Bonne with spreading bayou, 
Teche and Crocodile here crawling on to red 

Atcha-Falaya. 
Creeping through the diked cane-lands goes Vermil- 
lion to the Bay ; 
Farther westward, still and lonely, Mermenteau and 

Calcasieu. 
From the far northwestern border comes, through 

yielding ochery bed, 
Rio-Roxo, with her driftwood wonder, fitly named the 

Red; 
Saline, Black-Lake, Cane, and Bodceau by these 

currents filled and fed. 
Southward, washing through the loam}-, fertile vales 

of Arkansas, 
With Bartholomew and Tensaw and the Boeuf, is 

Ouachita. 



THE RIVERS OF LOUISIANA. 73 

Here the mighty Mississippi, half a hundred fathoms 

deep, 
In his plash a hundred rivers still their fretful mur- 
murs keep ; 
"Gathered" here the countless waters, half of all a 

continent, 
Seething, like a serpent writhing, all in awful volume 

blent. 
From the Black Hills and the lake-lands, and from 

eastern oil and coal lands ; 
From the Appalachian summits, and from western 

grain and gold lands ; 
From the caiions of the Rockies, 'neath the never- 
going snow ; 
From rich prairie, and from desert where but sage and 

cacti grow ; 
Past a hundred crowded cities, through the forest's 

silent hush ; 
Fled from fearful height and boulder, and the froth- 
ing cascade's rush ; 
By the cot and painted palace, from the wigwam of 

the savage ; 
Through the peaceful Southern bayou, from the west- 
ern floods and ravage ; 
Gathered in one vexing volume, artery of a continent ; 
Seething, like a serpent writhing, all in rolling gran- 
deur blent. 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF LOUISIANA. 



See Note 

Bogue-Chitto 123 

Sara 124 

Tangapahoe 121 

Comite 125 

Teche 125 

Atcha-Falaya 126 



See Note 

Calcassieu 127 

Red 126 

Arkansas 128 

Ouchitah 129 

Mississippi 130 



123. Bogue-Chitto. Bogue is a word found in prehistoric 
nomenclature in different countries. See Note 4, also Note 76 
for Chitto, supposed to be a corruption of Chatta. 

124. Sara is a term for river, a sibilant form of Aa-ri, found 
in use in the appellative sense in many ancient tongues. Its 
oldest form is in the Hebrew, where it appears as the name of 
a noted water, the fountain near which Abner was slain by 
Joab. The title survives jet in the Oriental name Aih Sara. 
The name Syria owes origin to the same root-words. The an- 
cient term is seen in the prehistoric names of a number of 
waters in America, nearly all of whom have their exact proto- 
types in the names of the Old World. Our lake name Sara- 
toga, with its term "Taqua" as "Toga," and indicative of the 
deep waters, is the counterpart of the Russian appellation 
written either Sara-toga or Sara-towka. Our name Sara-nacca, 
with its Hebrew Nachar as " Nacca," is the same as the ancient 
name of the ^gean Sea, Saronika. See Note 49 for " nakar." 

125. Amite, Comite, and Teche. These are doubtless sur- 
vivals of the French influence in the nomenclature of Louisi- 
ana, this long a French province. There is a river named Tesh 
(Tech) in France. 

126. Atcha-Falaya. This in pronunciation is Atch-a-fal-ly- 
ya, rhyming with by-yu (bayou). Atcha-falaya is the old In- 
dian name of the Red River. Authorities say that it denotes 
in the native tongue the " Lost River." This tradition is con- 
firmed by both physical and verbal facts. We have already seen 
in numerous citations that the term "Atcha " was used by the 
aborigines in the sense of river. The suffix " Falaya " shows 



THE RIVERS OE LOUISIAl^A. 75 

striking analog}- to a form of the ancient word seen in the Latin 
falor, which means to He hidden or concealed from view. This 
is precisely a condition which formerly existed in this river, a 
condition referred to in the expression " Driftwood wonder," 
well known to geologists and others. Up to quite a recent 
date the current of the stream for nearly a hundred miles of its 
course was hidden from view by vast and deep masses of drift- 
wood and soil, which, for unknown centuries, had been accu- 
mulating above the waters. Growing out of this mass of drift 
were large forests of trees several feet in diameter, when the 
country first came into the possession of the United States. 
Years of time and toil, and millions of public money have been 
expended by our government in efforts to remove the obstruc- 
tions and open the river to successful navigation. It was in 
this part of the river that a disaster befell the national troops 
under Gen. Banks in 1863. The old Spanish and French 
name of the river was Rio-Roxo; this, Anglicized, gives the 
modern appellation the "Red River." The current is fitly 
named: the waters are of a rich ochery red, the fact due to the 
immense quantities of clay and red soil held in solution, the 
coloring coming from the "yielding ochery bed." 

127. Calcassieu. This is a French version of the native 
word, the modern pronunciation Cal-cash-ya, or Cal-cas-sha, 
the accent on the last syllable. The term " Cal," found in 
many of our native names, is referred to in Note 147. Cassia, 
or Cashee, is found as the native name of waters in North Car- 
olina and Idaho. 

128. Arkansas. The true word is Aar-Kansaw. See Note 
30 for the term "Aar." The suffix "Kansas" survives in the 
name of another river. The writing in a final silent " s " is due 
to the old French influence. 

129. Ouachita. This is the old French writing of the na- 
tive name we now have as Washitaw and Wichita, the word 
rhyming with Arkansaw. The varying orthographies illus- 
trate the principle in language heretofore referred to, showing 
the identity of French Oiia, or Eau, and the English or German 
zva. Ouachita is simply the river Chatta, the word " Chatta " 
said to mean "owl" in the native tongue. Etymologically the 
term "Chatta "is really Cha-te, the initial showing the Orien- 
tal term cha, tcha, tsa, denoting water. It is also a remote 



76 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

form of our word sea. We see this Oriental term in its com- 
posite with the root- word for the deep, " De," as the ancient 
lake name written Tchade or Tchad. Another form of the 
word is in the original name of a deep water in Louisiana, 
Caddo. A kindred expression is the Spanish name written 
Cadiz. The full name as Ouachita, in its queer French garb, 
has its exact prototype in the Russian name seen on our maps 
as Ouichitza. 

130. Mississippi. This is another of our American names 
over which there has been much speculation. The modern 
writing of the word is known to have been the fanciful coinage 
of a French priest in the seventeenth century. The journals 
of De Soto, the first white man to discover and give authentic 
versions of the native appellations of the water, records various 
tribal designations of the stream. It was known, says that au- 
thority, in 1540, as Ri, as Chuck- Auga, as Mice or Messo, as 
Mes-apa, and otherwise. The French explorer Allouez, in 
1665, gives the writing Mess-Ippe. This is substantially the 
same as one of the names given by De Soto more than a cen- 
tury previously. Marquette, in 1673, gives the form of the 
word as Metche-Sepe. The term " Sepe " is a known syno- 
nym of •' Ippe." There is tradition that the true word meant 
" The gathering together of the Waters." Certainly the phys- 
ical facts are in confirmation of the legend, given, I think, in 
Barnes' School History of the United States. The waters of a 
large portion of North America are finally borne to the gulf 
through the mighty stream. The term for water in the name 
is well understood — this is in the expressions, ''Pa" or "Apa," 
" Ippe " or " Sepe." The feature of [the word indicative of 
the "Gathering," the descriptive or adjective in the name, 
must therefore be looked for in the initial of the different 
writings, " Mess," " Messo," or " Metche." Geological facts 
come to our aid in determining the problems connected with 
the words. The true river is regarded as being in the current 
known in the upper part of its course as the Missouri. This 
was written originally, when the name was first made clear, 
Mes-ouri. The suflix "Ri" in this name is also well known as 
a native term for river, a near synonym with the suffix in the 
name as Messis-apa or Messa-pi.* These facts show that the 

* And also one of the true names of the river. 



THE RIVERS OF LOUISIANA. 77 

two names Mississippi and Missouri are substantially the same 
thing in significance. The term " Mes " as it occurs in our 
English is traced to the root of the Latin words Alcfo and Afessis, 
and whence come our words meter and measure, denoting, in 
the original sense, a gathering together. The participle of the 
term Meto, Messui, denotes the "gathering." The name Mes- 
sui-Ri would therefore denote "the gathering river;" an ex- 
pression tersely characterizing the stream, since it gathers into 
its mighty embrace the waters of so many different lands. The 
term " Ri," as De Soto has told us, was one of the appellations, 
while his writings " Mico " (Messi) and "Messapa" give us a 
suggestion as to the true descriptive in the composite appella- 
tion. A remote type of the name given by the discoverer is 
seen in the Oriental word Meso-potamia. 



THE RIVERS OF TEXAS. 

To the dark gulf, never resting, tossing whitecaps o'er 
its green, 

Coursing 'twixt the Rio Grande and the Red and 
brown Sabine, 

Drag the dreamy Texas rivers : Neches first, with 
Angeline ; 

Then the Indian's Aar-ko-kee-sa, Trinity, through 
forest flows ; 

Next their Ou-ree, San Jacinto, where the star of 
Houston rose. 

Through the roUing mesquite prairie, where the wild 
dog builds his town, 

Brazos, once the Tock-on-hona, winds and waits 
and wanders down, 

Bearing with him Navasota, Bosque from the bot- 
toms brown. 

And Paloxy, Gabriel, Noland, and Keetumsee. 
— Farther west 

The slow San Barnard seeks the deep and troubled 
briny breast. 

Then from Llano Estacado, through the barren moun- 
tain shadow. 

Over sandstone, granite, marble, to perennial blooming 
meadow. 



THE RIJ 'ERS OF TEXAS. 79 

Flows the ancient Pasho-hono, now the Spaniard's 

Colorado ; 
In its current mixing Concho, Llano, stony Perdi- 

NALLES, 

And San Saba, from the sand plains, and Pecan 

from nutty valleys. 
Next with Navadad, Lavacca ; then the purple 

Guadeloupe, 
Where there rang in war times deadly, savage Santa 

Anna's whoop. 
Where blend Blanco and San Marcos through its 

mossy stone-bed run. 
And the Comal, glittering brightly as the dewdrops 

in the sun. 
In the ancient city springing, San Antonio darts 

away, 
With San Pedros and Cibola and Medina to the 

Bay. 
Mission and Aaransas, Frio with Sabinal, Hondo 

deep, 
Leona, Neuces, and San Migual, Atascosa, wind 

and creep 
Where the cacti spread in splendor, and coyotes revel 

keep. 
To Del Norte purls the Pecos ; and from where the 

savage paints. 
Scalping cowboys, small San Pedros, he and various 

other " Saints." 



80 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

Eastward trails the gloomy Cypress ; snail-like Sul- 
phur's in the pines ; 

And Attoyak mid cottonwood, eastward, noiseless 
lags and winds ; 

Eastward Hee - chee - aque - noNo, Pease and 
WiCHiTAS are whirled ; 

And the long and red Canadian, like a pennon, is 
unfurled 

In the northlands from the red man's war-camps in the 
sunset world. 



NOTES ON THE RIVERS OF TEXAS. 



See Note 

Neches 131 

Trinity 132 

San Jacinto 133 

Tock-on-hona 134 

Navasota 135 

Llano- Estacado 136 

Colorado 137 

Concho 138 

Perdinalles 139 

Navadad 135 



See Note 

Guadeloupe 140 

Comal 141 

Aaransas 132 

Hondo 57 

Neuces 36 

Del Norte 142 

Pecos 143 

"Saints" 144 

Hee-chee-aque-hono 145 

Wichitas 146 



131. Neches. The local pronounciation is Na-ches, the ac- 
cent on the "Na." This is doubtless the same aboriginal word 
given elsewhere as Natches. There was an ancient tribe of 
Indians called by the name Natches, and said to have been 
white, or of the Caucasian color. They were doubtless the last 
remnant of an aboriginal stock — the Tviscaloosa chieftain the 
last representative of a black race. See Note 100. The modern 
Indian is apparently a mongrel, or a cross between the white 
European and the black Moor. Columbus states in his journals 
that he discovered Moorish traits among the natives at the time 
of his first landing. The usually beardless face and the long, 
straight and coarse black hair of the American red man have 
their types in the Moor. Ethnologists, as a rule, do not regard 
the Indian as a pure Mongolian. 

132. Aar-ko-kee-see. The Trinity was originally known 
by this name. The word is found also as Or-Quis-Aco. See 
Note 30 for the term "Or" or "Aar." The expression "Quis- 
acco" is found in the South American "Chu-quis-acca," the 
native name of the La Platte. 

133. San Jacinto. It was on the banks of this river, in 
1836, that Gen. Sam Houston, commanding the Texas armies 
of the Revolution, won his first great victory over the Mex- 
icans; this established the independence of the Texas Republic. 
It was indeed here that the "Star" of the illustrious hero 
arose. The native name of the river was Ou-ri or Ouree, a 
name that survives in the appellation of a river in Colorado, 



82 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

the word now written Ouray. See Note 30 for the term 
" Uree." 

134. TocK-oN-HONA. This is given as the native name of 
the Brazos; while the original title of the Colorado was Pasho- 
HONo or Pashaw-honah. The term " Honah," seen in the 
different Texas appellations, appears to be but the aspirated 
form of the word "Au-na," referred to in Note 7, the writing in 
the superfluous H representing the Spanish idiom. The word 
Brazos is Spanish, denoting the brown; while Colorado, in the 
same tongue, is the red. The names have been interchanged 
in the historic era: the title Colorado once applied to the river 
now known as the Brazos; the latter name belonged to the 
Colorado. The changes occurred while Texas was a Mexican 
province. The term "Tock" is an abbreviation of Toccoa or 
Taqua. See Note 61. 

135. Navasota. The term "Nava" is doubtless the same 
ancestral word seen in the writings of the Indian names in 
Napa, Naba, and Naw^a; and seen also in the Old World river 
name Nava — this written either Nava, Neva, or Nieva. " Sota" 
appears to be simply a sibilant form of the word "Au-de" or 
"Ota," referred to Note 45. This term is found in the Indian 
names both as a final and as the initial — ^as in the appellations 
Sota-yoma (the native name of the Russian river of California) 
and in Minne-sota. 

136. Llano Estacado. The Spanish expression denoting 
the Staked Plains. 

137. The Colorado is one of the most interesting of all the 
rivers of Texas. It presents in its course a wide range of 
scenery. Entering Southern and Central Texas, it is the first 
river that can be heard running at any considerable distance 
during all seasons of the year. The current is subject to sud- 
den and dangerous rises from unknown subterranean causes. 
It has been known to increase several feet in height in a few 
minutes, and without any note of w'arning in the way of rain- 
fall. The subterranean outflow is pure and clear. The old 
Indian name of the water was Pash-aw-Hona. The term 
"Pashaw" has its exact type in the river names of the old 
world, the most remote form of the word being in the Hebrew 
Pashawna; this the Edenic appellation rendered "Pison" in 
the Anglicism of the Biblical record, 



THE RIVERS OF TEXAS. 83 

138. Concho. This is doubtless the same word we have in 
the South Carolina name Conga-ree — the Texas name in the 
Spanish idiom. See Note 47. 

139. Perdinalles. The term rendered "Nalles'Ms doubt- 
less the word Nau-li, in the foreign idiom — the final S super- 
fluous. See Note 154. The term "Perdi" is evidently the 
same as that in the initial of the Florida name Perdi-do. 

140. Guadeloupe. The Texas name is doubtless but a repro- 
duction of the old Spanish appellation, referred to in paragraph 
12, the "River Name." The composite factors in the word, 
however, are seen frequently in the Indian nomenclature. For 
the Moorish term "Guade," see Note 48; for "Oupa," see Note 
78. On the banks of the Guadeloupe the Mexican general, 
Santa Anna, massacred a large body of Texan troops surren- 
dered as prisoners of war. Hence the reference "savage Santa 
Anna's whoop." 

141. Comal. The Comal is one of the brightest of all the 
American waters ever seen by me (and I have seen more than 
half of the rivers of the United States. I have crossed every 
stream named in Texas, with but about half a dozen exceptions. 
More than three-fourths of the other Southern rivers have 
been seen and studied, and the local pronunciation of the names 
learned by me in the immediate vicinity of the waters them- 
selves. These statements are made not in the spirit of egotism, 
but that they may aid in emphasizing the authority of the 
work). 

142. Del-Norte. The full title of the river is Rio-Grande- 
Del-Norte, of the old Spanish writing. This, in English, 
is the Grand River of the North. 

143. Pecos. This pronunciation is Pa-cos, accent on "Pa." 

144. There are in Western Texas several small streams hav- 
ing, in the old Spanish titles, the term "San" or "Saint," all 
the streams flowing to the Rio Grande. 

145. Hee-chee-aque-hono. This long Indian name is said 
to mean "River of the Prairie-Dog Towns." In the old Mex- 
ican tongue the river was called also Palo-Duro. 

146. Wichitas. There are two rivers known as Wichitah. 
Wichitah and Washitaw are the same— the old French Oya- 
ghita. See Note 129. 



THE RIVERS OF TENNESSEE. 

Tennessee ! How were her rivers in the olden In- 
dian tongue? 

What syllabic rhythm had they ere the white man's 
changes rung? 

Wasciota and Shewanee, thus the Cumberland 
was known ; 

With Red, Caney, Obee, Harpeth, and the Sul- 
phur, New, and Stone. 

HoLSTON once was Hogee-hee-gee ; and, from 
mouth of French Broad down. 

Which was once the Taqua-Osta, Cootcla on to 
Chota Town, 

This an Indian " Refuge City " of an ancient, wide re- 
nown, 

Where there emptied in Tenassa, this the Little 
Tennessee ; 

Then began great Kalla-Muckee, Chalaqua in 
Cherokee. 

Once HiAWASSiE was Euphassie, with its brawling, 
small Chestoa, 

Esta-Nauli, " Where they rested," and Amoah or 

OCCOEE. 

Through Chilhowee comes the Little, this the Red 
Man's swift Canou ; 



THE RIVERS OF TENNESSEE. 85 

Where the wingless Pigeon flutters, once the Agaqua 

they knew. 
Where Unaka sent his daughter, Salacoi, is Tel- 

Lico ; 
Where was once the Nauli-chuckee simply Chucky 

now we know. 
Thundering through the Alleghanies with the Doe is 

yet Watauga ; 
Out and in, with Georgia pranking, straight to Gulf 

goes CONNESAUGA ; 

Out, but never more returning, " Stream of Death " is 

Chickamauga. 
Down through Alabama rattling, Rock and Flint 

and Elk they go. 
White man's rivers, they and Sandy, Duck, Beech, 

Buffalo. 
But Sequatchie keeps her beauty from the " vandal 

changes" free ; 
Obed and the dancing Daddee, these glide on to 

Emoree. 
Where is now the Clinch with Pow^ell, once was 

known as Pellos-Ippe ; 
Chuckauga, Ree, Mes-Apa, all these were names 

for Mississippi ; 
Thither going Nanna-conna, Lousa-hatchie, 

Forked-Deer, 
Wolf, Obion with his Reel - Foot, and Big 
Hatchie hieing there. 



86 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

By these waters fought the Shawnee, Uchee, Choc- 
taw, Cherokee, 
Chickasaw, and Chickamauga, Tuscarora, Muscogee. — 

Dead are all those tawny warriors ; but the music of 

the river 
And the sweet syllabic rhythm of its name shall live 

forever ! 




FROM PHOTO, 
FRANCISCO. CAL., 


CAPT. M. V. MOORE 

NATIVE TENNESSEEAN. 


DEC. 1885. 





NOTES ON THE RIVER NAMES OF TENNESSEE 



See Note 
" White man's changes ". 147 

Shewanee 148 

Obee 149 

Taqua-Osta 150 

Chota Town 151 

Tenassa 152 

Hiawassie 153 

Esta-Nauli 154 

Occoee iSS 

Canou 156 

Pigeon 157 

Salacoi igS 

Tellico 159 

Nauli-Chuckee 160 



See Note 

Doe 161 

Watauga 162 

"With Georgia pranking" 163 

Chickamauga 164 

Flint 165 

Sequatchie 166 

Obed 149 

Pellos-Ippe 167 

Chuckauga 168 

Lousa-Hatchie 170 

Wolf 172 

Obion 149 

Big Hatchie 169 

Muscogee 171 



147. Effort is made in these verses to rescue from oblivion, 
and, if possible, properly preserve in this work the old native 
appellations of some of the rivers of Tennessee now^ having 
modern titles. The aboriginal names still in existence are, in 
many instances, known corruptions, fanciful versions, or mere- 
ly conjectural forms of the native words. Those who have 
heard the red men of America in the utterance of their words 
understand well how vague and unsatisfactory are their enun- 
ciations, and especially in the vowel sounds. It is also difficult 
to distinguish the difference in G and K, in D and T, and P and 
B, on the native tongue. And hence it is that we have among 
the old words such a wide variety of English writings of the 
remote originals, these also in many instances conjectural ex- 
pressions at best. A single vowel ending in a native appella- 
tion has been given different writings with the English letters 
A, le, Ee. Our sound of U has been rendered in " Indian " 
names Ou, Oo, U, leu, and Eau. The name Tennessee in the 
now adopted orthography is known to be a fanciful coinage 
from an original word written both Ten-assa and Ten-essa. 
We pronounce the word with a strong vocalization and accent 
on the last syllable. And yet the old native pronunciation of 
the word, as Ten-is-a, with accent on the first syllable, is still 



88 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

remembered bj many who heard the name as it had come di- 
rectly from the native tongue, the vocaHzation of the other syl- 
lables so indistinct as to admit of the varied writings. The true 
appellation has been also misapplied. The name Ten-assa — 
Tennessee, as we now write it— did not belong originally to 
the chief river of the state as it now does. It was the title of 
the stream now known as the Little Tennessee. The old 
Cherokees, who were the most numerous and influential of all 
the tribes occupying the territory at the time the English colo- 
nists first came to the country, called the main river Chalaqua. 
This title applied from the mouth of the Ten-assa down to the 
Ohio. A dialectic title among some of the natives was Kalla- 
muckee. The two appellations are substantially the same: 
Chal-aqua appears to be the pure remote word, the aboriginal 
coinage; while Kalla-muckee is a tribal or dialectic expression, 
a corruption of the original. The term " Muckee " denoted in 
the native mind the idea of "Big Water," or " Much Water;" 
while the form of the expression as " Uckee " or "Aqua" was 
simply water or river. Forms of the same terms appear in the 
writings " Muchee " and "Uchee," the name Kallamuckee sur- 
viving yet in the Georgia creek appellation now written Calla- 
muchee. The term as " Muckee" survives in the native appel- 
lation of Nevada, Winne-Muckee, a deep lake there. (The 
term "Winne" is referred to in Note 55.) The ancient .word 
Chalaqua has been perverted in modern writings. It is the 
true original of the name we now have as " Cherokee." In old 
chronicles the word is written Chel-akee and Kelakee. The old 
Cherokee Indians did not use the letter R in their dialect. 
They were called " Cherokees " by the neighboring tribes, who 
used the sound of R as the equivalent of L, as do the Japanese 
of to-day. The term " Chal," or " Kal," as it appears in the 
dialectic expression, is supposed to have referred originally to 
that part of the Tennessee River now known as the "Mussel 
Shoals," and where the current seethes and boils so about the 
vast limestone ledges in its bed that it has localities named in 
the common parlance of the boatmen on the river, in such 
homely and significant expressions as the " Pot," the " Frying 
Pan," the " Skillet," the " Sucks," etc. The term " Kal " is sup- 
posed to have been inserted in the original composite word as a 
descriptive of these features of the river as they appeared on the 



THE RIVERS OF TENNESSEE. 89 

native mind. The word is an ancient expression, the remote 
root whence come our English words coal, caloric, etc. In its 
original significance the root-word appears to have denoted 
heat, energy, vehemence, etc. It is in a number of the native 
appellations of American waters that are noted for their 
warmth — as the Calousa, of California; as the Caloosa, of Flor- 
ida — or for their boisterous energy, as the Tennessee. In Ram- 
sey's "Annals of Tennessee," the author, quoting from Adair, 
says that the name Cherokee is derived from a word (Cheera). 
signifying fire. This is analogous with caloric, heat. 

148. Wasciota and Shewanee. These were the native 
names of the Cumberland, known in different dialects. Wa- 
Sciota was simply the River Sciota, the sufiix now seen in the 
appellation of a river in Ohio. The Cumberland was also 
known as the Wari-ota, the two ancient synonyms *' Wari " 
and *' Ota " in the one word. (See paragraph 8, the " River 
Name.") The name as Sewanee is preserved in the title of the 
great university on the summit of the Cumberland Mountain. 
The modern appellation of the river is in honor of the English 
Duke of Cumberland. The old French writing of the name 
Shewannee was Shavmmon. 

149. Obee. The word is written usually Obey. It is sup- 
posed to be a corruption of the ancient term "Au-ba," or 
"Obi," as it appears in the Russian. Three Tennessee names 
show the old Oriental term : Obee, Obed, Obion. The latter is 
doubtless Obi-anna. See Notes 29 and 7. 

150. Taqua-Osta. This was the native name of the French 
Broad. See Note 23. Ramsey gives the name of the French 
Broad as Agiqua; others give this as the name of the Pigeon^ a 
tributary of the French Broad. See Note 157. 

151. Chota Town. This was an ancient city of refuge used 
by the aborigines. It was situated at the mouth of the Little 
Tennessee where there was an easy crossing on a shallow 
shoal of the main river. There is now no vestige of the ancient 
city surviving, but the name "Chota" still remains in the appel- 
lation of the " Shoal " so well known to boatmen on the river. 
Elsewhere on the continent the aborigines had their cities of 
" refuge" governed by the same laws as those which obtained 
among the Jewish nations of antiquity. See Note 62. How 
and by whom the ancient Hebraic institution was introduced 



90 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

into America will never be known. We have seen, however, 
that the two peoples — the ancient Hebrews and the old colo- 
nists of the New World who named its waters — held in com- 
mon many words, both full names and terms, words that appear 
to have possessed similar significance in the respective tongues. 
From Chota Tow n up to the mouth of the French Broad the na- 
tive name of the river was Cootcla. This appears to have been 
simply a mere dialectic expression, its significance unknown. 
Above the French Broad the river now known as Holston was 
called in the Indian tongue Hogee-he-gee. The term 
"Hogee" is doubtless simply an aspirate form of the corrup- 
tion " Okee," river; " Heegee" is an unknown dialectic word. 

152. Tenassa. This name has been referred to Note 147. 
The word is supposed to mean the "Long River," the stream 
having for its size an unusually long and winding course 
through the mountains of East Tennessee and Western North 
Carolina. The term for river is in the writing "Assa," the 
purest known form of the primitive word now seen in the old 
Anglo-Saxon term written usa, ousa, etc, (Note 73,) The 
Greek term for the sea, Thal-assa, referred to in Note 103, and 
the Hebrew word Massa reveal the expression. Another form 
of the word is seen in Note 153, 

153. Hia-Wassie. The original name of this river appears 
to have been simply Assie, or Wassie. To this appellative 
different tribes added their dialectic terms for river, giving us 
four different composites which history and tradition have pre- 
served as the ancient names of the river. These are Hia- 
Wassie, Euph-Assa, Na-Quassa, and Re-Quassie. The 
names give evidence of the synonymous character of the 
different initials " Hia " (seen in both Hebrew and Chinese); 
" EuPH," seen in the Greek (of Euphrates) and the Russian (of 
Oufa) and the germ-words **Ri" and "Na," In Note 155 we 
find other curious evolutions in the prehistoric tongue. 

154. Esta-Naula. Tradition says this word signifies the 
place or water " where they [the Indians] rested." The term 
" Nauli " is seen in two of the Tennessee River names, this and 
the old appellation Nolly-Chucky, now simply Chucky. The 
word is found in the Hebrew, in the term for river written in 
the English letters either Na-hali or Na-auli, We see in this 
word the remote form of the name Nile, through its Latin garb 



THE RIVERS OF TENNESSEE. 91 

IVtlus. The name Esta-nauli has a corruption in the writing 
Oustenaulee, referred to in Note 65. The initial term in the 
name, " Esta," appears to refer to rivers or countries where the 
natives " rested," or where they spent the summer months in 
hunting and fishing, and away from the low altitudes and 
warmer latitudes, where they had the winter homes. It is a 
curious fact that this same term " Esta " is found also in the 
Latin where it has reference to the summer months. A pure 
form of the word is in the Alabama creek name Esta-boga, and 
in the North Carolina name Esta-Toah (see Note 22); while 
corruptions are seen in the names Oustenauli, of Georgia, and 
Taqua-osta, of North Carolina. In old chronicles the word is 
written Oostinahli. Nah-li is a correct form of the Hebrew 
written Nahal, or Nahauli. 

155. OccoEE. This river was called by the old aborigines 
also Amoah. The latter name appears to be a corruption of an 
original word for water or river seen in the Hebrew in the 
writings Ya-ma, Amaa, and otherwise similarly. A corruption 
of the true word is seen in the Oriental river name given on 
our English maps in the writings Amou, Amoo, etc. Another 
very singular and striking fact in connection with this name is 
that which shows that the Oriental river known as the Amou 
was known also to the ancients as Occoa or Accha, the modern 
writing of the name in the Greek idiom being Oxus, the He- 
brew as Accho. The final vowel sound in A denotes the pecul- 
iar idiom of the Indian. In some of the old maps of the coun- 
try, the name of the river is given as Aquoke, a word which ap- 
pears to be simply a different dialectic expression of the same 
original word whence comes Occoe and Occoa. Aquokee ap- 
plied to the Toccoa also. 

156. Canou. This was the native name of the river now 
called the Little. The word Can-ou meant originally in the 
Indian tongue the Caney River. See Note 15. It is found 
in the composite name of a river in Indiana, Tippa-Canoe. 
The word "canoe" as applied to a "dug out" boat, is simply a 
borrowed term, applied without reference to the original 
meaning, as many of our best English words are. Authorities 
give the word as an "Indian" term for river, but in the gro- 
tesque writing Key-nough. 

157. Agaqua. This was the native name of the river now 



92 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

called the Pigeon. The significance appears to have been 
"river where the fields are," places in the valley of the river 
long cultivated in corn by the Indians. The stream was known 
also as the Wah-na or Wau-na. See Note 7 for wauna. 

158. Salaquoi. The name is spelled variously in the suffix. 
The true writing is doubtless Sal-aqua. The word appears to 
be congeneric with Saluda. See Note 45. This was the leap- 
ing river, the stream springing out of the high places in Unaka 
Mountains. This name Unaka, unquestionably a native Indian 
word, is singularly like the Latin Unka, and our English 
unique. 

159. Tellico. See Note 53. 

160. Nauli-Chucky. This is the full writing of the name 
now given in the abbreviation simply Chucky. " Chucky " is 
said to have been a dialectic word in the Cherokee tongue 
meaning "dangerous." The term " Nauli " has been referred 
to in Note 154. The ordinary writing is "Nolly." 

161. Doe. There are two theories in regard to this name. 
One confounds it with the name Toe or Toah, the North Caro- 
lina river name referred to Note 22, the two streams having 
their sources near together. Tradition states that the name 
" Doe " was applied to the river by the great hunter, Daniel 
Boone, in commemoration of the fact that he had killed an un- 
usually large female deer on the banks on the river. It is known 
that heonce had a hunting-camp at the head waters of the stream, 
and under the shadow of the Roan Movmtain. This famous peak 
of the Alleghanies, its very highest point, received its title 
from a noted old roan horse belonging to the hunter. The 
animal strayed away from the camp one fall, but was found 
next spring, fat and sleek, on the summit of the mountain on 
the rich, grassy " Bald." — I have these facts from an old pioneer 
of East Tennessee, Christian Razor, who died about 1852, aged 
over ninety. He had known Boone personally. This man 
Razor claimed to have been the first man who ever brought a 
wagon across the Alleghanies from North Carolina into Ten- 
nessee. 

162. Watauga. See Note 61 for the term Taugua. A sim- 
ilar name is in Alabama, the writing Autauga. The words ap- 
pear to have no significance except that of river. 

163. " With Georgia pranking." The Connesaugua runs in 



THE RIVERS OF TENNESSEE. 93 

and out across the Georgia state line several times before final- 
ly making for the gulf through the Coosa of Alabama. AH 
the other rivers of the state go to the gulf through the Missis- 
sippi, the majority of their currents first emptying into the Ohio. 
The oldest writing of the name now known as " Connesaugua " 
is found in the journals of De Soto, where the word is written 
Canasaqua. See Note 15 for the term " Can." 

164. CmcKAMAUGA. This word is said to mean " River of 
Death." There are, however, no reliable data sustaining the 
tradition except that the native Indians known as the " Chicka- 
mauga tribe" were the most cruel and bloodthirsty of all the 
savages who once roamed over this section of the country. The 
" tradition " is evidently the coinage of a modern fancy, taking 
advantage of the terrible issues of blood and death occurring 
on the banks of this river in September, 1863. The initial term 
in the name is found in many of the native appellations of 
America — as Chicka, Chico, and Checo. As Chico, it is a Cal- 
ifornia name. "Mauga" is doubtless the same original word 
that now appears in the corruptions " Mucky," " Mohawk," 
etc., referred to Note 147. Doubtless the purest form of the 
word known is in the writing MaJi-aqna, which the historian 
George Bancroft gives as the aboriginal title of the Hudson, 
the word surviving in the corruption Mohawk. The signifi- 
cance of the expression Mah-aqtia was simply " Great 
River." 

165. Flint. The native name of this river was Chee-Wali, 
the word written also Chu-Waula. The Alabama creek name 
Chee-wa-clee is a kindred expression. The term " Wau-li " 
has been referred to in Note 112. The term "Che," seen in 
many of the ancient appellations of America, has its prototype 
in the river nomenclature of the Old World. In the English 
writings Tche, Tchai, Tsai, Tsa, there is a Turkish word for 
river, the word supposed to have been evolved from the sibilant 
form of the Hebrew Yaa as Sa. In the more modern tongues 
of the Old World the term is seen in the writings Sa, Su, Sjo, 
Zee. Our own English word " sea " has the same remote origin 
whence comes all the forms of the words here given. The 
modern Turkish word for river written simply Su, is repro- 
duced exactly in the native name of one of the American 
rivers written in the Frerich idiom Sioux, 



94 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

i66. *' Vandal Changes." The historian Ramsey, in "Annals 
of Tennessee," sajs that the supplanting of the old native ap- 
pellations by the modern title was an act of "vandalism." The 
name Sequatchie has various w^ritings, and a number of "tra- 
ditional meanings." Its final term " tche " is referred to in 
Note 165. The word Sequoa is given as a native California 
word now referring to big trees, and also to a noted chieftain. 

167. Pellos-Ippe. This was the native name of the Clinch 
River, The title " Clinch " owes its origin to the exclamation of 
an early explorer who, falling into the waters of the stream, 
and unable to swim, cried to a companion to "clinch" him, and 
prevent his drowning. Pellos-ippe is the dark water. The term 
" ippe " has been referred to in Note 130. It is a native term 
for water or river. FeUos shows identity with the Greek and 
Latin word pellos, denoting dark-colored. The waters of the 
Clinch are supposed to owe their dark tinge to the stains com- 
ing from the many coal-bearing strata about the sources of 
the river. 

168. Chuck-Auga. This word is given by De Soto, the dis- 
coverer, as one of the native names of the Mississippi. See 
Note 130. The name Chicago is a modernized form of the 
word. The significance of the expression was not, in the na- 
tive language, " Windy City." 

169. Hatchie. Our authorities on the native languagues of 
America give the word Hatchie as a term for river in the Semi- 
nole and Muscogee dialects. While the word appears to have 
been used by most of the Southern Indians, it is found also in 
the British America name, Sax-atcha-wan, and in the New 
York appellation, Oswego-atchie. The term is found usually 
in connection with another factor. This is the only instance 
in which it appears alone as the appellative. " Hatchie " is 
evidently but an aspirate form of the same word which is seen 
in the Celtic as Acka, in the Italian as Aci (atchie), and in the 
French as Atx. In the old dialects of the British Islands the 
same word is written Axe, Exe^ and Uxe, a term for water or 
river, but used as an appellative. Axe and Exe are river names 
in England. As Ouche the name is in France; as Ouchy in 
Switzerland; and as Oochee in China. We have the word in 
our Indian nomenclature as Uchee, Ucha, Uchi. The names 
Jujuy, a river of South America; Ujjiji, ^ lake gf Central 



THE RIVERS OF TENNESSEE. 95 

Africa; and Ujjijai, a town of Spain, are apparently simply 
variations of the same ancestral word. 

170. Lousa-Hatchie. The term Hatchie is referred to 
above; " Lousa " in Notes 89 and 100. The latter is found in 
different parts of the world in the prehistoric river nomencla- 
ture. In the English transcripts from the Russian and Central 
African names, the writing is Louza. We find the term in the 
Indian names both as initial and also as the final, as in Lousa- 
scoona, Tusca-loosa. The word owes origin to the germ Lu, 
the flowing, and otisa, water. See Note 103 for TJialassa. 

171. Muscogee. The native accent was originally on the 
last syllable; but in the modern tongue we hear it also as Mus- 
co-ga, with the accent on the second syllable. The word was 
originally written Mus-qua-kee. 

172. Wolf. Ramsey, in "Annals of Tennessee," gives the 
native name of this river as " Margot." A final syllable has 
evidently been suppressed. The true word doubtless was 
Mahgotah or Magota, the etymological equivalent of the South- 
Americaii name, Bosfota. 



THE RIVER NAME: 

ITS ORIGIN AND HIS TOR 2'. 

As the majority of the aboriginal river names of 
America are supposed to have been coined from types 
preexistent, and now seen in the Old World languages, 
it is apparent that the primitive colonists of the New 
World, who named its waters originally, had either a 
knowledge of those types or a knowledge of the ver- 
bal science and art revealed in the structure of the 
words. It will be well, therefore, to glance briefly at 
the known history of the Old World words, before we 
can appreciate fully or properly the character of the 
native Indian names of America. 

I. The history of the Water and River Nomencla- 
tures of the Old World is sufHciently well known to 
etymologists to have enabled them to determine and 
specify distinctly the verbal roots or germ-words in hu- 
man language out of which definite terms and names 
were coined by the primitive man for the expression of 
ideas and facts in connection with the subject. It is 
supposed that many of the primordial root-words now 
seen in our language had their origin mainly in the 
principles of onomatopy — in the suggestive expressions 
of the things or phenomona to be named. Objects in 
rapid motion — and especially machinery, certain birds, 
as well as currents of water — make a peculiar sound, 
which is quite fitly expressed in our word " whirr " — 
with two Rs. It has been observed that in most Eng- 
lish words indicative of the idea of rapidity of motion 
there is the letter R — as in rush, run, whirl, race, etc, 



THE RIVER NAME. 97 

Kindred expressions are seen in writings with the kin- 
dred letter L — as in fleet, flitting, flow, etc. The ma- 
jority of ancient terms for river, or stream of flowing 
water, contain a root-word having one or the other of 
the letters R or L. Etymologists have given these 
root-words, in their primordial forms, the English 
writings " Ri," " Rii," " Rha," or similarly otherwise 
with the letter R ; the germ in L being " Li," " Lu," 
or " Flu." The Greek form of the word denoting pri- 
marily motion is in the writing " Flu," out of which 
has grown a large family of words having reference 
primarily to movement. In combination with an an- 
cient germ-word for water, written in English both 
" Wa " and " Va," the term " flu " makes the word for 
river seen in the pure English idiom as Jlzi-wa or 
Jlu-va^ or in the Greek and Latin idioms Jluvios 
and Jluvius. Forms parallel with these words, and 
showing the germ-word in R, give the term for river 
as ri-va or ri-tva — rivus of the Roman idiom. In 
the Spanish idiom the same word is 7'i-oo — the ex- 
pression " Oo " the exact synonym of " Wa " and 
" Va," the latter representing the Teutonic idioms, 
while the writing as " Oo " comes from the ancient 
Basque form of the word for water, this now denoted 
usually in the French idiom as Eau, sometimes Eu. 

2. The very oldest of all the written forms of the 
ancient germ- words for water are found in the Hebrew. 
The generic word for water in that language is written 
in our letter M — the full expression either Mo, Maa, 
Aam or Yaam. The origin of the Hebrew term for 
water in the symbol English M is traced to a word 
written variously in the ancient Hebrew as Yaam, Yomj 
Yaama, Aa-Ma and Ho-Ma, this being the expression 
7 



98 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

which the Mosaic record gives as the name applied by 
God, the Creator, in the morning of time, when He 
gathered the waters together, and called them seas. 
Out of the initial sound in this divine word for the 
" gathered waters," there appears to have been evolved 
all those syllabic expressions denoting primarily wa- 
ter, and seen now in the Hebrew writings in. the 
English forms as '- Yeo," " Ya," " Y," " U," " Ai," 
" Hai," " Owa," " Oah," and reproduced in the modern 
English writings from the ancient languages and dia- 
lects of Western Europe and the British Islands also as 
"Yeo," "Eo," "Ae," " Eau," " Ou," "Aa," "Ah," 
" Wa," " Va," and otherwise. Authorities give about 
twenty different writings of the one word as a term 
for water in the ancient European languages. As 
"Aa," "Au," "Aue," " Yeo," " Eu," " Wye," " Vie," 
and " Y," it has survived as the name of more than 
thirty European rivers and other streams — the appella- 
tions being prehistoric. 

3. In the ancient Oriental languages the symbol for 
water is given in characters which correspond to Eng- 
lish P and B. In the Sanskrit the full writing of the 
word for water is either Ap or Pa, or more fully as 
Ap-aa, a form seen in the old Wallachian or Dacian 
tongue, which is supposed to have perpetuated the pure 
word in its entirety. In the Arabic and Persian the 
word for water is in the writing with the labial B, as 
Ba, or Au-Ba. In the ancient Egyptian tongues the 
writing was in M as in the Hebrew — this labial the 
symbol generally for most of the Semitic tongues. The 
full writing in the Coptic was Mu or Moo, this form 
seen in the old Turkish. In the pure Hebraic the 
writing was either Maa or Mo. 



THE RIVER NAME. 99 

4. The primordial germ-word indicative of the idea 
of depth, as relating to waters, appears in the ancient 
languages of the Old World in the English writings 
both as " Te " and as " De." The oldest form of the 
word deep is in the Hebrew, where it appears as Te- 
Am, or Te-ho-ma — the aspirate H in the Hebrew with- 
out true etymological value. The real and full signifi- 
cance of the word, in Hebrew, is deep zvatei's — the 
term " Am " or " Homa " denoting, in that tongue, wa- 
ters. The idea of perpetuity, as this relates to the mo- 
tion of waters in the river or other stream, was denoted 
in the ancient Old World tongues, in our English wri- 
ting, " Na." The fact is illustrated in the Hebrew 
name Ama-na, the exact equivalent of the Arabic 
form of the word as Aba-na — the river known in the 
history of Naaman. The word is given a translation 
in Isaiah, where it is rendered as waters which are 
perpetual. (Chapter Iviii., verse 11.) 

5. These facts show us that the ancient river no- 
menclature of the Old World contained only six or sev. 
en primordial germ-words. Out of this brief store the 
primitive nations of mankind wrought their words, 
both terms and names, for water and river. In 
what age of the world these germ-words became gen- 
erally known is a problem indeterminate. It is a fact, 
however, that each and all the primordial words I have 
named are contained and illustrated in the river names 
of Eden — words which were doubtless coined by Adam 
himself. 

6. In order to enable the reader to revert to the facts 
in future references, and in a prompt and convenient 
view, the following epitome of the above paragraphs, 
is made, showing at a glance the germ or root words. 



100 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

with their significance as used in ancient river nomen- 
clature : 

Mo, or Maa, Ba, or Aub, Ap, or Pa, are the labial 
forms of the primitive w^ord for w^ater. 

Au, Ecu, or Yeo, Ya, or Hai, and Wa, and Va, are 
vow^el forms of the word for water. 

Te or De denotes the idea of the deep in connection 
with water. 

Ri, or Li, and their idiomatic forms " Ru," " Wra,"^ 
" Rha," " Flu," and " Flo," indicate the fact of motion 
as connected with waters. 

Na denotes the idea of perpetuity of motion in 
waters. 

7. In some of the ancient languages the labials were 
all used interchangeably. The fact is especially true of 
the Hebrew, in which tongue the labial germ- word for 
water appears as frequently in B and P as in M, in 
all composite expressions. As the individual symbol 
for water, the letter M alone was used. 

8. In the list of expressions representing the vowel 
germ for water, there is doubtless but one true original 
— the others being mere idiomatic forms of the ances- 
tral word — this supposed to have been the Hebrew AU, 
There are four different ancient writings of the term, 
these supposed to have been coeval in origin — the vari- 
ations doubtless due to national idiom or to the mere 
conjectures of copyists, or translators, in supplying 
vowels in words originally written only in the conso- 
nantal symbols. In a composite with the germ word 
" Ri," the running, the word appears in the old Egyp- 
tian Coptic and Hebrew terms for river, now seen in 
the English versions as Yu-bali, Yeo-ri, Au-ri, and 
Eia-ro. The last three are all the same word unques- 



THE RIVER NAME. 101 

tionably, but in varying idioms. The modern Turkish 
idiom shows the term as Ya-ro — a form seen also in 
the native Australian river name Yara-Yara. Another 
form of the same term is in the Celtic word for river 
written either Aar, Ayre, Ahre, or Ayr. This is re- 
garded as the true original of the river names of West- 
ern Europe and the British Islands now written Ayr, 
Ohre, Aure, and Ayre. The old Chaldee corruption 
as Ur or U-re is found in prehistoric names of rivers 
in nearly every part of the world. It is conspicuous in 
the river nomenclature of the aborigines of America, 
two rivers of the United States having this old Chaldee 
word as the native title : the Ouray of Colorado and 
Ouri of Texas. The term is seen also as the sufHx in 
the name Missouri. All forms of the term appear in 
the names of Southern rivers, as we see elsewhere in 
this work. 

9. The history of river nomenclature shows that 
originally in the primitive tongue of the nations the 
water received no other title than that which conveyed 
the idea simply of water, or water in one of its varying 
conditions of depth or motion. Streams were named 
before the purely descriptive adjective or the mere hon- 
orary term was known in connection with waters. But 
we now find ancient appellations which are composites 
showing two or more actual synonyms in their struc- 
tures. Indeed, in some of the oldest names for waters 
in existence there is this feature of the word : it con- 
tains pure synonyms. Even the river names of Eden 
are no exception to the rule. 

10. The majority of the names of antiquity showing 
the two synonyms in the one word originated in this 
way : Originally — as I have just said — the water bore 



102 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

a title that was simply a national term for water or 
stream, the word representing the idiom of a tongue 
corrupted (or " confused," in the Scripture expression). 
It was doubtless an effort to reproduce a remote origi- 
nal perverted in the Divine purpose at Babel, as well as 
resulting from the imperfections of human memory, 
which alone, for countless centuries, kept the words 
until the art of writing was finally invented. In a sub- 
sequent age, and on the occupation of the various coun- 
tries by new peoples speaking a different language from 
that of the primitive colonists, the old names were not 
supplanted ; but they were referred to in the terms for 
water or river in the tongue of the new nations. In proc- 
ess of time the two terms — the old and the new — grew 
into the one appellation. Examples are known where 
there are as many as three synonyms in a single name 
of a water. The words afford curious and valuable 
studies not only in language, but also in human history 
otherwise. The very footsteps of the ancient migra- 
ting man, of extinct tongues and extinct nations, have 
been traced over continents by the shreds of language 
left in the nomenclature of the countries. 

II. The history of the river names of Spain affords 
some of the most interesting and valuable illustrations 
of the facts just referred to. Take, for instance, the 
name we have on the maps of that country as Guadel- 
quiver. The original title of that water was Chebar or 
Kabar. This was a Hebrew term for river, used in 
the days of Ezekiel, in the appellative sense, as the 
name of the stream upon which the prophet began his ca- 
reer. In some unknown age of the world the word was 
borne to the west of Europe, and applied as the name 
of the water in Spain. In the conquest of that coun- 



THE RIVER NAME. 103 

try by the Moors of Africa they applied to the old pre- 
existent title their national term for " the river " — this 
being " Wady," river, and " el," t/ie — the full expres- 
sion becoming " Wady-el-Kabar." In the Spanish id- 
iom — which writes the English sound of " Wa " in the 
letters Gzia, and gives " Ka " as ^zn, and V for B — the 
Moorish phrase of three words is converted into the 
single beautiful appellation Guadelquiver. This one 
word reveals the touch of three distinct and different 
tongues — the modern Spanish, the Arabic Moor, and 
the remote unknown Semitic — this latter representing 
a race of people who, hundreds of years before the ad- 
vents of the Romans and Christianity, colonized West- 
ern Europe, and left in the languages there the scores 
of Hebraisms and other Oriental terms now found in 
the ancient river and water nomenclatures of the 
country. 

12. The Arabic or Moorish influences in connection 
with Oriental forms of speech are to-day visible in much 
of the river nomenclature of Spain. The interesting 
appellation Guadeloupe is the Arabic " Wady-el" (the 
river) with a suffix in a corruption with the Sanskrit 
Ap-aa (water) as "Oupe." This corruption has two 
well-known forms — the old Slavonic as " Ou-pa," or 
" U-pa," and the Greek as " Eu-pha," or " Eu-fa," seen 
in the name Euphrates. This latter is one of the river 
names of Eden, not in its Hebraic form, but retained — 
as many of the Biblical names have appeared — in the 
English versions of the Scriptures, in their old Greek 
and Latin idioms, and not at all times in the pure He- 
braisms. The true Hebrew of the word, as Greek 
Euphrates, originally written only in the symbols cor- 
responding to English P-R-T, appears fully in the 



104 SOUTHERN RI\ 'ERS. 

writing as Aa-pa-ri-te — this a form of the word corre- 
sponding with its oldest expression in the Greek of He- 
rodotus — before the days of the Hellenic classicism. 
The corruptions " Ou-pa " and "Oo-fa" are found in 
many of the prehistoric names of waters, and especially 
in Russia and the Southern states. We have had oc- 
casion to revert to this fact in a number of the Notes 
of this work. 

13. There is also another Oriental term for river seen 
frequently in the names of the waters of Southwest- 
ern Europe, to which we have had occasion to refer in 
numerous Notes. This is the word found in the 
Persian as "Ain," and in the Hebrew as "Ain," " On," 
"Au-na," and frequently as " En " simply — as in the 
names En-rogel, En-Gady, etc. The suffix in this lat- 
ter Hebrew brook name is identical with the Arabic 
term " Wady " above noticed. A curious fact, and one 
well illustrating the history of river names, is that which 
shows that the name Ain-Gady, with its composite fac- 
tors in inverted order, is the same as the Spanish river 
name now written Guadi-anna. The pure and full 
form of the latter term was in the Hebrew in the pro- 
nunciation as "Au-na," the abbreviation as " En " and 
*' On " simply an Anglicism. We have seen this Orien- 
tal term, "Au-na," in a number of its Old W^orld forms 
in the native Indian names of waters in many in- 
stances. And even the Arabic term, both as " Watte " 
and " Guati," is conspicuous in the appellations of the 
aborigines of the continent — some of the facts given 
in the Notes. "Au-na" is the germ-words Au, wa- 
ter, and Na, the perpetually flowing. 

14. One more Oriental term seen in the native names 
of America deserves a reference before we dismiss 



THE RIVER NAME. 105 

the subject. It is seen with a composite factor in the 
Russian name Dneiper. This word is an EngHsh ab- 
breviation of the true word in the Slavonic as Dena- 
apri, or in the French idiom as Danapris. This name 
has the two synonyms, " Dena " and "Apri." " Dena " 
is the word which we see so frequently in the river 
names of the Old World in the writings " Don," " Dan," 
" Tan," " Ton," " Doon," " Dun," and otherwise simi- 
larly. Its oldest form is in the Hebrew river name 
written in the Scriptures Dan, and in the modern Ara- 
bic Dahn, the word applying originally and yet to the 
deep fountain which in the Syrian hills is the wonder- 
ful source of the river known as the " Dan." The 
name occurs in the Biblical annals in a period five hun- 
dred years anterior to the birth of the man Dan. Its 
companion "Ap-ri " in the Russian appellation is an 
Oriental term for river showing origin in the germ- 
words Sanskrit " Ap " and " Ri " — these also the ances- 
tors of the kindred Latin term " Ri-pa," synonymous 
with " Ri-va," river. A very interesting and striking 
fact in connection with the name Dneiper is that which 
shows that it is substantially the identical word which 
appears in the Greek idiom as Borysthenes. This is the 
old Arabic title of the river, rendered in the English 
equivalents of the Greek letters. The original name of 
the river was simply " Dena." In other words, it was 
once one of the " Dons " of Russia. The national term 
-'Apri," applied as the suffix to the primitive appellation 
by the Orientals, giving the name Dena-apri, or Dneiper. 
The Southern Arabs, whose national term for river has 
been for many centuries " Ba-ri," or simply water run- 
ning — the word frequently written " Bahr," " Bar," and 
" Bor," applying their word as the prefix, the full ex- 



106 SOUTHERN RIVERS. 

pression became Bari-Dena. This in the Greek idiom 
is, as I have just said, Borysthenes. The true Arabic 
name is discovered still in the English writing of the 
name of a great city on the banks of the river, Bo- 
rodina, made memorable by the terrific battle fought 
there by Napoleon in the disastrous Russian campaign. 
The term " De-na " is simply a composite of the germ- 
v^ords De, the deep, and Na, the perpetually flowing. 
The word as " Dee " was used in the appellative sense 
by the ancient colonists of the British Islands as the 
name for rivers. An old Scottish corruption is in the 
writing *' Tay." The term " Tau," found also as the 
river name in England, and also as the native Indian 
name of a river in North Carolina, appearing further- 
more in numerous composite appellations of rivers in 
the Southern states, is not regarded as precisely the 
same word. It shows origin in the two germs or root- 
words " Te " and "Au." A further reference to this ex- 
pression is made in Note 20. The aborigines of Amer- 
ica appear to have used the word " Dee " in the same 
sense in which it is found in the old Anglo-Saxon or 
Scotch name, expressive of the deep water or deep 
river, but usually as a suffix, as in the names Sand-Dee 
(Santee, Note 50), Pee-Dee, etc. 

15. The limits and purpose of this work forbid a 
fuller discussion of the history of river nomenclature 
in these pages. What has been written is given solely 
with a view to making clear in the mind of the reader 
some of the problems which appear in the Note refer- 
ences to the river names of the aborigines of America, 
and especially in connection with some of the Indian 
appellations of the Southern states. Nowhere on earth 
are the ancient Old World terms for river and water 



THE RIVER NAME. 107 

seen with a greater degree of distinctness and accuracy 
than in many of the names that have been long re- 
garded as the coinage of the " savages " of America. 
I do not pretend to advance any theory in these pages 
as to the primitive sources of the words ; there is no 
wisdom of to-day that can show clearly whence came 
the knowledge of the ancient pioneers of the Western 
World who first named its waters. I simply place on 
record in my pages the facts as gleaned from historic 
archives. In regard to the conclusions which may be 
drawn from the premises, the reader is entitled to his 
or her own opinions. I shall not make the work a ve- 
hicle for the expression of my individual views here. 



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